Childhood Exposure to Secondhand Smoke Linked to Lung Cancer

A genetic study has found that children who were exposed to secondhand smoke are more likely to develop lung cancer as adults, according to researchers from the National Cancer Institute and the Mayo Clinic.

Childhood exposure to secondhand smoke raised lung-cancer risk even among study subjects who never smoked themselves. Researchers drew their conclusions in part from analysis of a gene called MBL2, known to increase susceptibility to respiratory diseases.

The study was published in the December 2009 issue of the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.