By Derek Raghavan, M.D., Ph.D

Q: Why do people who never smoke get lung cancer? -- Erin Ryder, Los Angeles

A: Dr. Derek Raghavan, a medical oncologist and chair and director of the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center, responds:

Erin,

That’s a very good question, and there are actually several answers.

Probably the most important issue is that many people who claim not to smoke actually do. But they don’t smoke actively, with a cigarette stuck between their lips. Rather, they are passive smokers. This means that they breathe in the cigarette smoke that is exhaled by others...

...It is well documented that in some parts of the country, people are exposed to radon gas, a radioactive substance that leaks from the ground and that has the potential to cause lung cancer. Radon is particularly prevalent in some areas of the northeastern United States, where basements will sometimes become filled with this gas. Levels may become particularly toxic in the winter, when the house is sealed against the cold. To avoid radon exposure, it is very easy to have the house tested and to install extraction systems to stop levels of the gas from rising in the basement or elsewhere.

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