The development og lung cancer in USA, 1950 – 2005.

Here it is examined whether alcohol or smoking is the dominant factor for lung cancer in the USA. The information is from different sources, since it has not been possible to find a single source of the information. Data on cigarette consumption is from ATF and the US Department of Agriculture. Data on alcohol consumption is from ATF. Data on lung cancer deaths are from CDC and ACS. Due to the composition of the statistics the lung cancer deaths also include deaths from a small number of other cancers. Lung cancer is the absolute dominant cancer.

Figure 1. Cigarette sales and lung cancer. There is no effect from smoking whatsoever. It is absolutely evident that smoking is not a significant cause of lung cancer. Cigarette sales are in billions of cigarettes.

Figure 2. Alcohol consumption and lung cancer. There is a good correlation between alcohol consumption and occurrance of lung cancer. It is evident that a drop in alcohol consumption in the period from 1981 to 1995 has resulted in a modest drop in the absolute number of lung cancer deaths. The consumption of alcohol is rising again, and therefore the number of lung cancer deaths is rising. Alcohol consumption is in million litres of pure alcohol.