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An Arrow-shot Against Antismokers

Elio F. Gagliano, MD
Article Published: 18/07/2008

A study on lung cancer sure to disappoint anti-smoking crusaders comes from the May 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, where we find a study by Ping Yang, MD, a Professor of Epidemiology at the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnesota, entitled "Alpha1-Antitrypsin Deficiency Carriers, Tobacco Smoke, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, and Lung Cancer Risk".

Dr. Yang and his colleagues analyzed the impact of alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) on the incidence of pulmonary carcinoma and found what I call an arrow-shot against the anti-smokers. That is: AATD is a risk factor for the development of lung cancer independentl of smoking status. Such a finding contradicts the anti-tobacco activists who claim and propagandize that lung cancer is caused by cigarette smoke, and nothing but.

Alpha 1-antitrypsin is a protective protein produced by the liver. Its function is to protect the lungs from the neutrophil elastase enzyme, which can disrupt connective tissue. Deficiency of this protein is a genetic disorder.

for the full story:

http://www.forces.org/Forces_Articles/article_viewer.php?id=596

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