Here is the opening paragraph of Joanne Silberner’s 4/19/09 NPR article, “Test May Determine Smokers’ Lung Cancer Risk.”
A new urine test appears to distinguish which smokers are likely to get lung cancer and which are not, by detecting whether smokers have a particular chemical in their urine that’s been linked to lung cancer.
The article points out that this does not mean it is safe for those who are at low risk to smoke:
Researchers say this test is no license to smoke; tobacco causes other health problems, such as emphysema, heart disease and other types of cancer.
But the test could be used as a signal that people with high levels of NNAL should be screened more frequently for lung cancer, says Tyler Jacks, the incoming head of the American Association for Cancer Research and a lung cancer researcher with MIT. That way, cancers can be detected early, when they’re more treatable.
