Smoking and Asbestos Exposure are Deadly Combination

September 26, 2006 - While most people are aware of both the dangers of smoking and of working with asbestos, studies have proven that smokers who are exposed to asbestos in their workplace or elsewhere have a much higher risk of developing asbestos-related diseases.

According to an article in Market Day, there is a definitive link between the two when it comes to determining who’s more likely to develop cancers of the lung.  “Studies have found that cigarette smokers have a four to eleven times greater chance of getting lung cancer than non-smokers,” notes the article. “If a person is a heavy smoker, then the number goes up to twenty-seven times as likely.”

Adding a heavy smoker to asbestos exposure sends the probabilities for lung cancer “skyrocketing.”  The article points out that heavy smokers with a history of asbestos exposure have a 50 to 90 times greater chance of having lung cancer. 

Problems arise because smoking causes chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). People who smoke and have also been exposed to asbestos have higher occurrences of COPD than people who have not been exposed to asbestos, the article states.  Studies have shown that people who quit smoking, but still had asbestos exposure are less likely to develop lung cancer than those people who continue to smoke despite exposure to asbestos.