Can Smoking Just One Cigarette or Breathing Secondhand Smoke Harm Your DNA?

by Dan  

Surgeon General LogoExposure to tobacco smoke (even occasional smoking or secondhand smoke) causes immediate damage to your body that can lead to serious illness or death, according to a 700-page report released December 9, 2010, by U.S. Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin.   It’s called How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease: The Biology and Behavioral Basis for Smoking-Attributable Disease.

“The chemicals in tobacco smoke reach your lungs quickly every time you inhale causing damage immediately,” Benjamin said.  “Inhaling even the smallest amount of tobacco smoke can also damage your DNA, which can lead to cancer.” 

The report also explains why it is so difficult to quit smoking. According to the research, cigarettes are designed for addiction. The design and contents of current tobacco products make them more attractive and addictive than ever before. Today’s cigarettes deliver nicotine more quickly and efficiently than cigarettes of many years ago.

Tobacco smoke contains a deadly mixture of more than 7,000 chemicals and compounds, of which hundreds are toxic and at least 70 cause cancer. Every exposure to these cancer-causing chemicals could damage DNA in a way that leads to cancer. Exposure to smoke also decreases the benefits of chemotherapy and other cancer treatments. Smoking causes more than 85% of lung cancers and can cause cancer almost anywhere in the body. One in three cancer deaths in the U.S. is tobacco-related.

Even brief exposure to secondhand smoke can cause cardiovascular disease and could trigger acute cardiac events, such as heart attack. The report describes how chemicals from tobacco smoke quickly damage blood vessels and make blood more likely to clot. 

Stopping the habit at any time will have a positive impact on health, according to Benjamin. She said the risk of heart attack drops dramatically after one year, the risk of stroke falls to that of nonsmokers after two to five years, and the risk of dying from lung cancer is cut in half after about 10 years.

“Quitting at any age, at any time is beneficial,” Benjamin said. “So it’s never too late to quit — but the sooner you quit, the better.”

The safest and best way to quit smoking is the BestWayToQuitSmoking.com Program.  For more information, visit http://bestwaytoquitsmoking.com.

Copies of the full report, executive summary, and the easy-to-read guide may be downloaded at http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/tobaccosmoke/index.html.  To order printed copies of these documents, go to http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco and click the Publications Catalog link under Tools & Resources.

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Comments

2 Comments on Can Smoking Just One Cigarette or Breathing Secondhand Smoke Harm Your DNA?

  1. Leah on Wed, 13th Jul 2011 2:29 pm

    2. hi my name is Leah,

    I had a couple questions in mind to ask for whoever answers these questions on here for others who have questions to if have any to ask and to try to find an answer out if can.

    my question is that can second-hand smoking harm your body if your around other people like friends in general that you hang around with cause anything or customers that come in to work and smoke around our enterance, can that really hurt your body when you cant help or say to customers that they arent aloud to smoke by the entrerence when they do anyhow?

    Another thing is that was wondering was that is it bad to hang around friends that smoke, but im not a smoker at all? Is it bad for me when i have other medical things going on with my own body that are controled, but dont want anything else in my body of smoking wise. is there anything that will occur to my body when i and other people that dont smoke harm your body?

    I hope that you will be able to answer my questions and help me out with them.

    Thank you for your time and hope to hear from you soon.

    Leah

  2. Your Questions About Best Method To Quit Smoking Cigarettes | Smoking And Quitting Smoking on Wed, 30th Nov 2011 3:19 am

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