if cancer is basically a clump of cells that dont want to die, why/how do things like cigarettes, asbestos, and the literal sun trigger it?
In: Biology
Generally, there’s a chance anybody can get any type of cancer. What causes development of cancer are mutations (mistakes) in the creation of new cells. Environmental factors like the ones you listed increase the probability of these mistakes occuring. This doesn’t mean that a smoker *will* or *will not* get lung cancer, it just statistically increases the odds of it happening.
I think the most confusing part about cancer for many people is the statistics that explain it and how environmental factors affect it’s probability, not certainty. Many sensational pieces like “x causes cancer” are products of a wrongful manipulation of statistics.
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