Women who cook on a daily basis without using a kitchen exhaust fan are nearly 1.8 times more likely to suffer from lung adenocarcinoma, a form of small-cell lung cancer, than those who do not cook, a study by the Genetic Epidemiology of Lung Cancer in Taiwan (GELAC) released yesterday showed.
The GELAC research team that conducted the study was comprised of representatives from the National Health Research Institutes (NHRI), Academia Sinica, National Taiwan University and several hospitals. They made public their findings at a two-day health forum in Taipei yesterday.
NHRI Institute of Population Sciences director Hsiung Chao (熊昭), one of the members of the team, said that nearly 90 percent of female patients with lung adenocarcinoma have never smoked, yet lung cancer has been the leading cause of cancer deaths among Taiwanese women for the past decade.
“The research team monitored the health conditions of 1,200 female lung adenocarcinoma patients and 1,200 healthy women since 2002 and found four major risk factors for lung cancer: tuberculosis, family medical history, second-hand smoke, and cooking fumes,” Hsiung said.
Hsiung said that women who have contracted tuberculosis are 2.9 times more susceptible to lung cancer, while those who have a family history of lung cancer or who have been exposed to secondhand smoke are 2.6 times and 1.5 times more likely respectively to contract the disease.
“In addition, women who have cooked three meals a day for 48 years are 1.78 times more likely to get lung cancer, but they could lower that risk by 43 percent by always having a kitchen range hood on while cooking,” Hsiung said.
National Taiwan University principal Yan Pan-chyr (楊泮池), a lung cancer expert, said that lung cancer is a multifactorial disease and that more than half of patients who develop it do not experience any symptoms in the early stages of the disease.
“Nearly 75 percent of patients with lung cancers are diagnosed at an advanced stage and less than 20 percent of them live more than five years past their diagnosis,” Yang said.
Yang said that people aged 45 and older who are at high risk of developing lung cancer are advised to undergo routine low-dose computed tomography screening, which can detect lung nodules as small as 0.2cm to 0.3cm in diameter.
“Patients who have tumors that are less than 1cm wide when diagnosed typically have a 97 percent five-year survival rate, while that survival rate drops to approximately 80 percent for those with tumors ranging between 1cm and 2cm,” Yang said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated