Smoking causes gene damage in minutes

[Dreadnaught]

Okay, we all know smoking is bad. But did anyone suspect it could be this bad.

Smoking causes gene damage in minutes

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Those first few puffs on a cigarette can within minutes cause genetic damage linked to cancer, US scientists said in a study released.

In fact, researchers said the "effect is so fast that it's equivalent to injecting the substance directly into the bloodstream," in findings described as a "stark warning" to those who smoke.

The study is the first on humans to track how substances in tobacco cause DNA damage, and appears in the peer-reviewed journal Chemical Research in Toxicology, issued by the American Chemical Society.

Using 12 volunteer smokers, scientists tracked pollutants called PAHs, or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, that are carried in tobacco smoke and can also be found in coal-burning plants and in charred barbecue food.

They followed one particular type -- phenanthrene, which is found in cigarette smoke -- through the blood and saw it form a toxic substance that is known to "trash DNA, causing mutations that can cause cancer," the study said.

"The smokers developed maximum levels of the substance in a time frame that surprised even the researchers: just 15-30 minutes after the volunteers finished smoking," the study said.

"These results are significant because PAH diol epoxides react readily with DNA, induce mutations, and are considered to be ultimate carcinogens of multiple PAH in cigarette smoke," the study said.

Lead scientist Stephen Hecht said the study is unique because it examines the effects of inhaling cigarette smoke, without interference from other sources of harm such as pollution or a poor diet.

"The results reported here should serve as a stark warning to those who are considering starting to smoke cigarettes," Hecht said.

Lung cancer kills about 3,000 people around the world each day, and 90 percent of those deaths are attributable to cigarette smoking.

The research was funded by the National Cancer Institute.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110116...ealthussmoking

[RandBlade]

"The results reported here should serve as a stark warning to those who are considering starting to smoke cigarettes," Hecht said

Really? Nobody but the thickest moron should consider starting smoking nowadays anyway.

[Omega]

Can we subsidize cigarettes shops in ghettos? and lower the legal age for smoking to ten in those ghettos? We'll solve a lot of problems this way.

[Aimless]

We'll solve a lot of problems this way.

In what way?

[GGT]

By now most everyone knows smoking is harmful, but a study with 12 volunteers is too small to make sweeping generalizations. Even though they say

the study is unique because it examines the effects of inhaling cigarette smoke, without interference from other sources of harm such as pollution or a poor diet.

They found 12 smokers with optimal nutrition and no environmental pollution factors, yet

scientists tracked pollutants called PAHs, or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, that are carried in tobacco smoke and can also be found in coal-burning plants and in charred barbecue food.

[termite]

People know that smoking is harmful, yet they continue to do it...

... perhaps people tend to be overly optimistic when it comes to self destructive behaviour - smoking isn't exactly the only human endeavour that harms us - but then....

None of us are getting out alive...so just how much of our life should we spend avoiding death before realising that it is a fate-accompli?





But then again, do we want to risk harming the genes that we pass one to the next generation?

Or is that just evolution?

Gandalf smoked...



That settles it, you got a light mate?

[BalticSailor]

From all the things in tobacco smoke, they picked phenanthrene. Huh.

[Khendraja'aro]

From all the things in tobacco smoke, they picked phenanthrene. Huh.

My favourite would be 210Po.

[Omega]

In what way?

IQ test scores would dramatically increase, the poverty line would be higher (or would it be lower), and society would be better off in general. My school fights on a daily basis. About 15 out of the 20 fights a month are initiated by the SAME people. My school has three caucasians and 19 african americans who usually create problematic situtations. I know becuase they were called out.

[Aimless]

IQ test scores would dramatically increase, the poverty line would be higher (or would it be lower), and society would be better off in general. My school fights on a daily basis. About 15 out of the 20 fights a month are initiated by the SAME people. My school has three caucasians and 19 african americans who usually create problematic situtations. I know becuase they were called out.

How long do you think it takes to die from smoking compared to eg. being aborted?

[Khendraja'aro]

How long do you think it takes to die from smoking compared to eg. being aborted?

I'm not sure if he realizes that the real life threatening problems caused by smoking usually appear at ages where one already had several children?

[Aimless]

I think he's trying to be hilarious

[Omega]

Not really, i'm proposing a way to gently euthanize a select group of people. It alters your genetic composition. After sevral decades of chain smoking and inbreeding, they should become impotent.

[LittleFuzzy]

Not really, i'm proposing a way to gently euthanize a select group of people. It alters your genetic composition. After sevral decades of chain smoking and inbreeding, they should become impotent.

Several decades of inbreeding. You heard it here, folks.

[littlelolligagged]

I assume several decades of inbreeding led to Omega?

[Khendraja'aro]

Not really, i'm proposing a way to gently euthanize a select group of people. It alters your genetic composition. After sevral decades of chain smoking and inbreeding, they should become impotent.

You do realize that, say, lung cells are usually not that important for reproduction?

[LittleFuzzy]

I assume several decades of inbreeding led to Omega?

No, I think more than one generation was required. As it would be to achieve the sort of effects he desires across an entire subpopulation.