postulate: Smoking is unrelated to lung cancer Recent studies suggest that lung cancer may be a genetic disease There are no studies showing that nicotine is a carcinogen. August 1, 1990 edition of the Wall Street Journal . A Study was conducted by researchers at Louisiana State University Medical Centre (New Orleans): Albert Einstein College (NY). The researchers studied 300 families in Southern Louisiana, who had a history of lung cancer, and compared them with 300 controls. The researchers concluded lung cancer is an inherited disease. Based upon retrospective studies 35 the researchers concluded that if a person had two copies of the lung cancer gene, his chances of getting lung cancer by the age of 50 would be 14% if he did not smoke, increasing to 27% if he were a heavy smoker. In the more likely case of an individual having only one copy of the gene, the researchers concluded that a non-smoker would have practically no risk of getting lung cancer by age 50, but for a heavy ...