Smoking damages genes in minutes
Want to have a puff? Think again as cigarette smoke starts damaging one’s basic element of life — genes — within 30 minutes of inhaling it, a study has warned.
The scientists who studied the way smoking affects humans found one of the carcinogen of tobacco smoke starts causing adverse changes in the genetic structure of the person within 15-30 minutes of taking a puff.
“The results reported here should serve as a stark warning to those who are considering starting to smoke cigarettes,” the study notes.
The smoke carries a carcinogen which is known phenanthrene also known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, (PAHs) which form toxins in the blood termed as “trash DNA” after inhaling which induces adverse genetic structure or mutation thus exposing the person to the risk of lung cancer.
“It is the first to investigate human metabolism of a PAH specifically delivered by inhalation in cigarette smoke, without interference by other sources of exposure such as air pollution or the diet,” researchers said.
Researchers say lung cancer kills an average of 3,000 people in the world each day and 90 per cent of this toll is due to cigarette smoking, which also causes at least 18 other types of cancer. PAH is one of the main causes of lung cancer.
The study, published in a US-based peer reviewed scientific journal Chemical Research in Toxicology, is claimed to be the first human study to detail the way certain substances in tobacco cause DNA damage linked to cancer.
Scientists tested effects of smoke in 12 volunteers and tracked the changes taking place in their body. To their astonishment, they found PAH very quickly forms a toxic substance in the blood known to trash DNA, causing mutations that can cause cancer.
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