While lung cancer has been an illness which is rarely being
identified since the beginning of 20th Century, its frequency
has increased in parallel with the increase in smoking status
and it has become the most common type of cancer in the
world. Although cadmium, acetone arsenic etc. are known
the smoke components causing the lung cancer, the recent
facts in this issue have showed that Polonium-210 and Lead-
210 in the smoke are also very important smoke components
causing the lung cancer as well. In this paper, while the radioactive
isotopes in the smoke, transition pathways of these
isotopes to tobacco, transition mechanisms from smoke to
lung are discussed; biological doses in the lung and hazardous
of smoking are expressed.
Keywords: Lung cancer; Lead-210; Polonium-210; radioactivity; smoke
