LUNG-CANCER IN PHILIPPINE AND OTHER ASIAN WOMEN - OCCUPATIONAL AND NONOCCUPATIONAL RISK-FACTORS

Following the end of the American and Japanese occupation of the Philippines, public health policy continues to be inspired by results of foreign epidemiologic research on suspected pulmonary carcinogens. Epidemiologic studies on lung cancer conducted in Japan, the United States, and Europe are used to buttress antismoking efforts in developing countries such as the Philippines. Results of retrospective and prospective studies indicate that the majority of those who die of lung cancer, among American, European, and Japanese women, are cigarette smokers. On the other hand, results of retrospective studies and cancer registries indicate that cigarette smoking is not a significant or essential associated factor in Philippine and other Asian women with lung cancer. Recent efforts by U.S. governmental agencies to regulate environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in the workplace are being followed in the Philippines. The association between ETS exposure of workers and lung cancer has not been investigated in most developing countries because the conduct of prospective studies is financially burdensome. Occupational, environmental, dietary, and genetic factors are more significant than tobacco use in pulmonary carcinogenesis in Asian women, compared to American black and Caucasian women.