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Every Year of Smoking Causes About 150 New DNA Mutations That Can Make Cancer More Likely, Says Study (latimes.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Los Angeles Times: For every year that you continue your pack-a-day habit, the DNA in every cell in your lungs acquires about 150 new mutations. Some of those mutations may be harmless, but the more there are, the greater the risk that one or more of them will wind up causing cancer. The threat doesn't stop there, according to a study in Friday's edition of the journal Science. After a year of smoking a pack of cigarettes each day, the cells in the larynx pick up roughly 97 new mutations, those in the pharynx accumulate 39 new mutations, and cells in the oral cavity gain 23 new mutations. Even organs with no direct exposure to tobacco smoke appear to be affected. The researchers counted about 18 new mutations in every bladder cell and six new mutations in every liver cell for each "pack-year" that smokers smoked. The findings are based on a genetic analysis of 5,243 cancers, including 2,490 from smokers and 1,063 from patients who said they had never smoked tobacco cigarettes. The researchers used powerful supercomputers to compare thousands of cancer genome sequences. The computers grouped the sequences into about 20 distinct categories, or "mutational signatures." Mutations tied to five of these signatures were more common in tumors from smokers than in tumors from nonsmokers. One of the signatures involves a specific DNA nucleobase change -- instead of a C for cytosine, there was an A for adenine -- that "is very similar" to the change that occurs in the lab when cells are exposed to benzo[a]pyrene, a compound that the International Agency for Research on Cancer says is carcinogenic to humans. Most of the lung and larynx cancers obtained from smokers had this type of mutation, the researchers reported. They also found that the signature was more common among smokers than nonsmokers. Another mutational signature was characterized by Cs that should have been Ts (thymine) and vice versa. Although these changes can be found in all kinds of cancers, the signature was 1.3 to 5.1 times more common in tumors from smokers than in tumors from nonsmokers, according to the study.
I quit smoking by using a vape and gradually toning down the nicotine levels in the fluid from 18mg to 0mg. After that I found myself using the vape less and less until finally I quit that too.
For anyone who doesn't smoke, don't start smoking OR vaping. If you are already a smoker, I wholeheartedly recommend giving vaping a try.
That's complete BS. First, there is no oil whatsoever in eliquids. Second, vaporisers work by heating a coil which heats cotton wicked with eliquid. If it were burning, you would certainly know it because you would be getting dry hits.
Perhaps you shouldn't talk about things that you don't understand.
Speaking as someone with around 3,000 new mutations (I quit a few months ago), I can tell you I've paid in tax on cigarettes about 2 x the cost of any treatment I'll get for the problems it'll cause and of course I'll take out a lot less in pension assuming I make it to 68, which is quite unlikely. So you know, these "massive" costs are actually net benefits if you're going to start accounting.
There was a recent study that showed MOST models of vaporizers still burn the nicotine oil to "vaporize" it. So you're still releasing most the same exact carcinogens, plus you're inhaling burning baby oil. Maybe this is not so safe after all. (Don't ask for a citation. It was posted here on /., find it yourself.)
You do realise alot of the bad stuff is added to the tobacco or is in the paper for various reason. It's not just the nicotine which is relatively harmless on its own.
Wanna buy a shirt?
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While you're largely correct, it isn't quite true that the immune system has no impact on cancer. Your T cells are involved in cell mediated immune response and clear out cells that are precancerous or infected with viruses. Cancer occurs when the T cells are depleted by disease and cannot kill off the precancerous cells or once the precancerous cells mutate sufficiently that they can reproduce uncontrolled while simultaneously evading the immune response. So, if the cells are reproducing uncontrolled but continue to respond when the T cells inform the cells they should kill themselves, you don't have cancer... but you're more at risk than someone who doesn't have uncontrolled growth. Once they stop responding to the apoptosis inducers and/or the T cells can't recognize them as being off, then you have a problem.