Every time I see someone touch oil or breathe in fumes or dust( or other dirty things), I always see “hes gonna get cancer” in comments. I always kind of just accepted it as truth, but do they actually give you cancer? like how can breathing in some dust make your cells divide weirdly and give you cancer?
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The cause of cancer at its root is damage to your DNA. specifically, a cell was damaged in a way where it no longer checks to make sure its ready to divide and is healthy enough to divide, and it no longer checks if the body needs it to divide. Normally the immune system catches these cells if these two safeguards fail, but if the immune system misses it, you have the beginning of cancer, or at least a tumor.
A lot of stuff in our everyday life can cause damage to our DNA, but in moderation, the odds of getting cancer are extremely low as most damaged cells simply die off or are killed off. The more exposure the higher the risk, and a few things pose a much higher risk of damaging our DNA.
Take your example of dust. Some types of dust particles may be sharp or irritating to the lungs, like asbestos for example. When it gets lodged in your lungs, it continually pricks and damages cells, and then your immune system gets involved and inflames the area, further causing damage. And often times these prickly dust particles stay in your lungs for a while. Or if the dust has active chemicals on it, those chemicals will then damage the sensitive inside of your lungs and throat, again posing a risk of cancer.
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