Smoking and Lung Cancer

[mengy]

Lungs are one of the most adversely affected organs due to smoking. After a period of time smokers begin to feel short of breath. This occurs because the inhaled smoke damages the minute hairs in the upper airways of the lungs. The lungs are irritated and hence the airways narrow which encourages the production of phlegm and makes it difficult to breathe. Smoking forces carbon monoxide to mix with the blood. This restricts the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood.

Smoking and lung cancer is known to be closely associated as it is the major respiratory disease caused by smoking. Research shows that an important gene p-53 is found in the nucleus of each cell. The major role of p-53 is to correct any errors in the copied calls. Hence it is called the ***8216;Guardian of the Genome***8217;. A cell is known to be susceptible to cancer if the p-53 gets damaged. When damaged cells replicate, it forms a modified cell population leading to cancer. It was found that benzopyrene, a carcinogen found in cigarette smoke directly damages p-53.

The longer the person is exposed to cigarette smoke, the greater are the chances of developing lung cancer. Hence smokers are ten times more prone to lung cancer than a non-smoker. While a person who begins to smoke in their teens is five times more prone to lung cancer than a person who begins to smoke in his twenties.

Smoking also causes cancers of the oral cavity, oesophagus and larynx. Smoking combined with alcohol greatly increases the risk of developing these cancers.

 

[tbirds]

wat about smoking the green while on the juice. is it bad for the cycle?

 

[Die$eL~Man]

the green makes me take in those extra calories & meals

 

[TonySuicideKing]

marijuana isnt bad birds. and just like die$el it helps me pack on the extra food.

 

[tbirds]

marijuana isnt bad birds. and just like die$el it helps me pack on the extra food.

ha awesome i was thinkin the same thing.

 

[BimmerDude]

Good post. There is definitely a link between cigarette smoking and lung cancer in some cases, but the research isn't 100% conclusive. There are many, many people who smoke for years---even their whole lives--- and never get cancer. In fact, too many for them to say that smoking actually causes lung cancer. So, instead, they say that smoking may cause lung cancer, which is not really saying the same thing. Further, sometimes when a smoker gets lung cancer it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with smoking and it doesn't necessarily originate in the the lungs. The cancer can begin somewhere else in the body and then metastasize to the lungs. And, even though a person may never have touched a cigarette their entire life (or even hang around smokers long enough to inhale sidestream smoke) they can still get lung cancer. Still, cigarette smoking is some bad, bad, BAD shit! And there's a good reason why the corporations that market cigarettes don't put all the ingredients on the packaging. There are so many chemicals added to the tobacco in cigarettes that its frightening. The flavored, mentholated ones are worse than the regulars, and the 'lights' really aren't that much different from the regulars either. The marketing trick with the 'lights' is that they decrease the intensity of the flavor to make you think its not as strong but the nicotine content and the rest of the shit in it isn't that different. Because the flavor is weaker you need to smoke more of them to feel the same effect so, mathematically speaking, its like comparing 'six' to 'half a dozen'. THE FDA knocked the cigarette companies for this, and now they are no longer permitted to use the words "light" or "lights" on their packaging.

Cigarettes are bad for more reasons than just the carcinogenic potential. The hot smoke irritates and damages the mucosa of the airways, and over time it causes a variety of non-cancerous lung diseases that make it necessary for some people to have to walk around with an oxygen tank because they can't breathe properly. Smoke also gradually causes the lumen of the vessels to become sticky, and this multiplies (many times over) the smoker's risk for developing cardiovascular disease (the #1 killer) and it greatly increases the risk for getting a heart attack or a stroke (or both). So, even smokers who don't get lung cancer are likely to develop some type of cardiovascular disease sooner or later. Most people who smoke aren't that concerned about this though because they think they're having fun puffing away at those cigarettes and it sometimes takes many years before symptoms of disease appear. And some people just don't care. They'll come into the ER with severe respiratory distress, you stabilize them and discharge them, and they go right back to smoking again---even some who have asthma and emphysema know better.

Despite knowing what we know about all the shit that cigarette smoking does to the body, I'm VERY surprised that governments in any country still allow corporations to manufacture and sell tobacco products. It is simply one of the worst products ever to be marketed because it is in some way related to more sickness and death each year than anything else. Surprises me even more that our government puts so much emphasis on banning gear (which isn't really harmful when used correctly); yet they encourage the sale and use of cigarettes which is total shit, serves no purpose at all, and kills people. I suppose its all political. Relatively few people are athletes who train regularly and are interested in using gear compared to the general population. If they were to legalize steroids the prices would drop because there would be so many cheap generics and Big Pharma wouldn't make much money from it. Tobacco on the other hand is an industry that employs a very large number of people in several states. It is a mainstream product that rakes in billions annually, and the state governments love it because they can slap special taxes on it whenever they want and this is a huge source of revenue for them.

Weed has its issues, but its nowhere near as bad as smoking cigarettes if its the pure organic stuff. At least it has some medicinal properties, and its a much better mood enhancer than most of the drugs that the pharmaceutical companies are selling. I don't know that smoking it is very conducive to the BB lifestyle though because it tends to mellow you out so much that it slows you down. Not a state you want to be in when you need to get your workouts on.