why do seemingly random things “give you cancer”?

Question

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?

In: 93

Answer 1

Depends what you’re breathing. For example fumes (depending on the source) can have “carcinogens” or toxic substances that can mutate the DNA in your cells and turn them into cancerous cells