By now most people are aware of the links between smoking and lung cancer, but they probably don’t know that cigarettes may contribute to breast cancer too.
Since August, fourth-year biology student Samantha Richardson has been feeding lab mice a mixture of corn oil, sesame oil and benzopyrene – just one of 50 carcinogenic chemicals found in cigarette smoke – and monitoring the effect on the animals’ mammary glands.
While smoking rates have declined across Ontario to about 19 percent of the general population, young people use tobacco at a higher rate.
UWindsor biology professor Lisa Porter, a cancer researcher, is one of three speakers addressing this issue at Trash the Ash! Cancer Talk 2011: Tobacco, the first in this year’s Schulich Windsor Health Lecture Series. The free public event will begin at 7 p.m. Wednesday, October 26, in the Hangar on the St. Clair College campus.
