Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine and the University of Utah developed a genetic test to identify which cigarette smokers have the highest risk of developing lung cancer.
“People are going to be talking about this like it’s good news, but it could be dangerous in the sense that it might offer smokers a false sense of assurance,” says Dr. Whelan. “Let’s get the facts straight: the majority of smoking-related deaths are from heart disease, not cancer, and there are numerous other smoking-related diseases to worry about. So if I’m a smoker and I get that test and I say, ‘Yipee! I’m not going to get lung cancer, I’m safe!’ then how much of a benefit have we derived here?”
Stier is more optimistic: “From a scientific point of new, if we can identify what it is about a smoker’s genes that makes him or her more susceptible to lung cancer, maybe we can figure out how to reduce lung cancer risk overall, or learn something about the etiology of cancer.”
