Let’s say someone is a cigarette smoker. Each time they light a cigarette, are they chancing the fact that it could contain the carcinogen that will start the cancer that will be an issue for them years later, or is it a gradual build up of carcinogens in the body eventually causing lung cancer? Like, could the hypothetical hot dog I’m eating right now be responsible for cancer years down the line?
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Biologist here, and my answer is similar to Luckbot’s.
All cigarettes have carcinogens. Carcinogens causes damages to cells, specifically to their DNA, which is like the blueprint for creating proteins. Some types of damage in particular regions of the cell’s DNA can cause unregulated growth and division (cancer). Organisms have a bunch of checkpoints that check for damaged DNA to prevent damaged DNA from being replicated and creating more cells with the same damaged DNA. When those checkpoints fail and that compromised cell divides, that’s when you risk cancer.
So, in general, all cigarettes have carcinogens that can damage DNA in cells. However, not every damaging incident will cause cancer. But the more you smoke, the more times you take that risk, and the more likely you are to develop cancer. Same for your hot dog—there’s a chance, but you’ll probably be fine, unless you eat a ridiculous amount of hot dogs. There are tons and tons of known carcinogens, you can’t avoid them all. All you can do is avoid taking unnecessary risks. UV light, aka the sun’s rays, is also a carcinogen. It damages DNA. That’s why it’s a bad idea to use tanning beds, and why you should wear sunblock when you’re going to be in the sun for extended periods of time. We can’t realistically avoid all UV radiation, but you have a far lesser chance of developing skin cancer if you wear sunblock and don’t lay in UV tanning beds.
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