are a former smokers lungs black?
The participants quit smoking more than 10 years ago. Eight participants had surgical removal of non-small cell lung cancer; eight were disease free. Their results showed differences in methylation levels in lung epithelial cells between former smokers with and without lung cancer. The idea that smoking causes black lungs is no more than a myth, and the evidence for this is plentiful. Possibly the first thing people say on the subject is that they have seen those pictures of a black smokers lung and a pink non-smokers lung. While it may be true that the black lung was that of a smoker and the pink lung that of a non-smoker, that is not the end of the story  we now know that cancerous organs turn black. A while ago channel 4 ran some programmes of autopsies done live by Dr Von Hagens, and one episode was on cancer. The above pictures were primarily about how smoking causes cancer of the lung and other sites. But the assault on the lungs from the tars in tobacco are not just limited to causing cancer. Other lung diseases are directly caused by smoking, the most well known are the chronic obstructive lung diseases. Furthermore, the photos invariably are of the outside of the lung and not the inside. Cigarette smoke never reaches the outside of the lung and subsequently would have no chance to turn it black. Today, even those conducting autopsies admit that looking at lungs alone is not a way to tell if the deceased smoked. A smokers lungs are generally as pink and healthy as a non-smokers lungs, and last year in the UK, half of all lungs used in transplants came from smokers. The 'black lung' is, in fact, a cancerous lung. If a smoker gets lung cancer, yes, the lung will turn black. If a non-smoker gets lung cancer, his lung will also turn black. Trying to label a cancerous lung and a smokers lung as one and the same thing is just more downright dishonesty from the anti-smoking movement. “Dr. Smoking's Impact on the Lungs. Ex-smokers are often tempted when watching others smoke. Spending time with a specific friend and watching them smoke may be a trigger, especially if it was the most time you had spent with the friend since you quit smoking. White area on top is the cancer, this is what killed the person. The blackened area is just the deposit of tars that all smokers paint into their lungs with every puff they take. To add a little more perspective to the demonstration, here is another way to see how much tar actually gets into the lungs from smoking. Smoking is the biggest risk factor for developing lung cancer, even after quitting for long periods of time. The researchers studied how DNA methylation contributes to lung cancer development in former smokers. Methylation is an important event regulating gene expression during normal development. Canadian researchers are trying to answer why some smokers develop lung cancer while others remain disease free, despite similar lifestyle changes. Results were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research's Seventh Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research.
If a smoker gets lung cancer, yes, the lung will turn black. If a non-smoker gets lung cancer, his lung will also turn black.