LUNG CANCERS AMONGST WOMAN

CANCERS OF LUNG AMONGST WOMAN:

 Some twenty years back I observed that the people working in kitchen of our hospital and steel plant canteen were suffering from cancers more than the people of same age group working elsewhere in the plant. That time I thought it might be due to their over eating habits and heat inside the kitchens. Now I am more puzzled to find more number of  woman suffering from cancers of lungs.(Now I work as a consultant in a cancer hospital of Bhubaneswar).Most of the Indian woman do not smoke but the recent spurt of lung cancers raises certain question and its time we should prevent it and educate our house wives.

Cooking fumes produced during high-temperature frying are already known to cause cancer. In China, high lung cancer rates among cooks have been linked to the practice of tossing food in a wok, often in a confined space, which increases the concentration of hot oil in the breathing zone of the cook. Cooking fumes are thought to cause lung cancer, as well as cancers of the bladder and cervix. Previous research has found that cancer levels are higher among chefs who did not have fume extractors in their kitchens than among those who did.

Researchers suggest that it is exposure to cooking fumes that accounts for the high rates of lung cancer in women, despite their low smoking rates. A study by researchers from the Institute of Medicine at Kaohsiung University in Taiwan published in the American Journal of Epidemiology in 2000 found that the longer women spent cooking food the higher the risk of lung cancer. Those who cooked on a daily basis had the highest risk. Women who waited until the oil was very hot before cooking the food increased their risk compared with those who cooked at a lower temperature.

Cooking gas used for cooking causes more problems to the house wives who spend long hours in cramped up kitchen without proper ventilation or exhaust fans. The cooking gas is a composition of propane and butane which are hydrocarbons. There is high level of pollutants in the air plus the dust and hours of cooking inside the kitchen puts Indian house wife and cooks at a higher risk of different cancers.

My suggestions are: 1: Good exhaust fans in kitchens 2: Less deep frying of non vegetarian food3: Less hours in kitchen4: If the lady is a smoker, she should be told about the high risks.5: Periodic Check up of cooks and house wives.6: Less of gas and coal cooking7: more of electric or convention cooking.8: Public awareness9: Avoid cooking during early stages of pregnancy.10: Balanced diet to the house wives & rest from cooking.

So readers do not think that because you do not smoke you are not going to have lung cancer is sheer ignorance. With so much pollution, dusts, hydrocarbons, smoke, diesel fumes, fire works during festivals, agarbati, match stick gas and burning Ghats fumes worst days are ahead for us. Please be careful.

SANJOY KUMAR SATPATHY, CONSULTANT HEMALATA CANCER INSTITUTE
BHUBANESWAR.ODISHA.India.