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Previous Volume 354:1951-1953 May 4, 2006 Number 18 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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To the Editor: The study of ethnic and racial differences in the smoking-related risk of lung cancer by Haiman et al. (Jan. 26 issue)¹ omits an analysis of important potential confounders: a family history of cancer and parental exposure to relevant harmful substances (e.g., cigarettes, radon, inhaled particulates associated with mining, and pesticides). Paternal smoking can select for epimutations in sperm² and inhibit the production of DNA-repair enzymes such as O⁶-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase and MLH1,³ causing heritable but nonfamilial susceptibility to cancer that is detectable in nonsmoking progeny as microsatellite instability, reduced DNA repair, early-onset cancer, or specific mutation patterns . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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