Smoking is a turn-on for some genes
Posted: September 30th, 2007 by Steve Trinward“Smoking may turn on some genes in the body in a permanent and harmful way, scientists said on Thursday in a study that may help explain why the risk of cancer remains high even after smokers quit. They found many genetic changes that stop when a smoker quits, but found several genes that stay turned on for years, including several not previously linked with tobacco use. ‘These irreversible changes may account for the persistent lung cancer risk despite smoking cessation,’ the researchers wrote in their report, published in BioMed Central journal BMC Genomics. In any cell, only about one-fifth of the genes are switched on at any given time.” (09/30/07)
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSN2937628820070930
September 30th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
Obviously an even greater effort is required to keep kids from starting smoking. Prices of cigarettes need to increase, fines for selling to minors should increase as well as licences to sell tobacco being revoked if there are sales to minors. Advertising needs to be banned, or at least countered if bans violate rights. Tobacco companies are now using the internet to advertize to kids by using videos that glamorize smoking. Videos that show the true harm of smoking need to be posted in large number on the net in places like Youtube to counter them. Smoking bans seem to help reduce the numbers of smokers as well. These have to be expanded to include every place where there are non-smokers and especially every workplace.