News

May 2008
The Collegiate Cancer Council National would like to welcome Deborah Grose and Vi Tuong Tran, Presidents of the Ohio State University and Xavier University of Louisiana Chapters of the Collegiate Cancer Council, respectively.

January 2007
The Collegiate Cancer Council National would like to welcome Ogonna Kenechi Nwawka as President of the University of Texas Medical Branch - Galveston Chapter of the Collegiate Cancer Council.

January 2007
The Collegiate Cancer Council National would like to welcome Steven Ovu as President of the Prairie View Chapter of the Collegiate Cancer Council. He thanks the Collegiate Cancer Council for giving him, and the other passionate students on their board, the opportunity to disseminate information about cancer to their classmates thereby lowering the risks from the disease.

Factoids

The 2006 Surgeon General's Report – The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke – had six conclusions.

• Almost 60 percent of children are being exposed to secondhand smoke and 30 percent of workers do not have smoke free workplace policies.
• Secondhand smoke contains chemicals like formaldehyde, arsenic, benzene and vinyl chloride which have been identified as human carcinogens by the EPA.
• Children who are exposed to secondhand smoke become more vulnerable to pneumonia, bronchitis and asthma.
• Secondhand smoke increases risks for both heart disease and lung cancer in nonsmokers.
• Secondhand smoke has immediate effects on blood chemistry increasing platelet stickiness and damage blood vessel lining.
• Separating smokers and nonsmokers does not prevent secondhand smoke since air conditioning systems can not filter out chemical compounds found in the smoke.

Smoking tobacco is well known to be the main risk factor for lung cancer, some other risk factors follow:

• Asbestos, even though it not used any more, it can be encountered in older buildings and equipment.
• Repeated infections from pneumonia or tuberculosis can cause scarring lung tissue and increase the risk for cancer to develop.
• Too much vitamin A can lead to increased risk of developing lung cancer.

The myth that marijuana does not cause lung cancer is busted. Marijuana smoke has the same substances and in the same concentrations as in tobacco.