Take smoking cigarettes, everyone says that causes cancer. But how? I thought cancer was just a malfunction in the cells? I know I’m wrong it just doesn’t make sense to me
In: Biology
You’re right that cancer is a malfunction in the cells, but that malfunction can be caused from outside sources. An an easy example, sunlight is known to cause skin cancer. That’s because harmful and powerful UV rays from the sun (mostly UVB, if we’re being picky) can actually damage the DNA in our skin cells directly, and sometimes that damaged DNA will get copied over and over, causing skin cancer.
Smoke is the same way – some of the harmful chemicals in smoke have that same effect of damaging the DNA of our cells, and sometimes that damage can produce a cancerous cell that starts to replicate out of control. In the case of smoking, most of that damage is happening in the lungs, though it can also affect parts of the throat and mouth as well, causing cancer in any of those areas.
Latest Answers