FACTS ABOUT SMOKING AND BREAST CANCER

Smoking exposes the body to many cancer-causing chemicals that affect more than the lungs. These harmful substances are absorbed by the lungs and carried in the bloodstream throughout the body. There remains great debate on relationship and direct link between active cigarette smoking and breast cancer. The following facts speak to studies which suggest the increase risk of breast cancer resulting from active smoking.

• Smoking is associated with increased risk of breast cancer before age 50 years in Breast Cancer 1 (BRCA1) and Breast Cancer 2 (BRCA2) mutation carriers.
• Smoking decreases survival after breast cancer.
• Exposure to compounds in cigarette smoke increase risk of mammary tumors.
• Compounds contained in cigarette smoke have been found in the breast tissue of smokers as well as in the tumors of smokers with breast cancer.
• Active and passive smoking is associated with an increased risk of premenopausal breast cancer.
• Lifetime risks of breast cancer among carriers of deleterious mutations in BRAC1 and BRCA2 have been estimated at 40-80%.
• Studies suggest that secondhand smoke causes breast cancer that is particularly aggressive in younger, premenopausal women who have never smoked.
• Epidemiologic evidence of secondhand smoke in 2005 for breast cancer in younger, premenopausal women is stronger than the evidence for lung cancer in 1986.