Smoking Damages Genes Within Minutes

Minutes after the first puffs, a smoker’s genes are damaged enough to lay the groundwork for a future cancer to take hold. That’s what U.S. scientists discovered in a recent study designed to evaluate the effect of substances in tobacco on DNA.

Might as Well Inject It

Damage occurred so quickly, it startled researchers who compared the speed of the effect to injecting the substances directly into the bloodstream.

The study is the first to use human subjects and looked specifically at tobacco's ability to damage DNA. Scientists tracked the pollutants know as PAHs or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. They travel in tobacco smoke but can be found in coal-burning plants and in charred barbecue food too.

Trashes DNA

One particular PAH type, phenanthrene, is found in cigarette smoke. Scientists followed its path through the blood and found that it formed a toxic substance that trashes DNA by causing mutations that can cause cancer.

The findings concluded that the PAH type reacted readily with DNA, inducing mutations.

What Do You Think?

Lung cancer kills approximately 3,000 people every day and 90% of those cancers can be attributed to smoking. Canada recently began adding graphic warnings to cigarette packaging, which included images of end stage cancer patients, but even studies like this new one and gruesome photos don’t appear to deter people from picking up the habit or continuing with an existing one.

The warnings and research are not new and studies that further illustrate the damage caused by smoking shouldn’t surprise anyone. When I was ten, I tried to convince my father, a two pack a day smoker of unfiltered Pall Malls, to quit by cutting out the Surgeon General’s warning on smoking from magazine ads and slipping them into his pockets and rolling them into his socks.

He was diagnosed with lung cancer at stage four in 2008 and died less than a month later.

Should we worry about people who knowingly expose themselves to potentially fatal illness? My father certainly knew the potential consequences of his habit. My childish chiding aside, he was an intelligent, well-informed man.

What are your thoughts? Share your stories.