# "convincing evidence" that marijuana smoke damages the genetic material DNA



## Lemmongrass (Jun 16, 2009)

ScienceDaily (June 15, 2009)  Using a highly sensitive new test, scientists in Europe are reporting "convincing evidence" that marijuana smoke damages the genetic material DNA in ways that could increase the risk of cancer.

Researchers note that toxic substances in tobacco smoke can damage DNA and increase the risk of lung and other cancers. However, there has been uncertainty over whether marijuana smoke has the same effect. Scientists are especially concerned about the toxicity of acetaldehyde, present in both tobacco and marijuana. However, it has been difficult to measure DNA damage from acetaldehyde with conventional tests.
The research was carried out by Rajinder Singh, Jatinderpal Sandhu, Balvinder Kaur, Tina Juren, William P. Steward, Dan Segerback and Peter B. Farmer from the Cancer Biomarkers and Prevention Group, Department of Cancer Studies and Molecular Medicine and Karolinska Institute, Sweden.
Raj Singh said: Parts of the plant Cannabis sativa, also known as marijuana, ganja, and various street names, are commonly smoked as a recreational drug, although its use for such purposes is illegal in many countries.
The scientists describe development and use of a modified mass spectrometry method that showed clear indications that marijuana smoke damages DNA.
There have been many studies on the toxicity of tobacco smoke. It is known that tobacco smoke contains 4000 chemicals of which 60 are classed as carcinogens. Cannabis in contrast has not been so well studied. It is less combustible than tobacco and is often mixed with tobacco in use. Cannabis smoke contains 400 compounds including 60 cannabinoids. However, because of its lower combustibility it contains 50% more carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons including naphthalene, benzanthracene, and benzopyrene, than tobacco smoke.
The authors added: It is well known that toxic substances in tobacco smoke can damage DNA and increase the risk of lung and other cancers. Scientists were unsure though whether cannabis smoke would have the same effect.  Our research has focused on the toxicity of acetaldehyde, which is present in both tobacco and cannabis.
The researchers add that the ability of cannabis smoke to damage DNA has significant human health implications especially as users tend to inhale more deeply than cigarette smokers, which increases respiratory burden. "The smoking of 3-4 cannabis cigarettes a day is associated with the same degree of damage to bronchial mucus membranes as 20 or more tobacco cigarettes a day," the team adds.
"In conclusion, these results provide evidence for the DNA damaging potential of cannabis [marijuana] smoke, implying that the consumption of cannabis cigarettes may be detrimental to human health with the possibility to initiate cancer development," the article states. "The data obtained from this study suggesting the DNA damaging potential of cannabis smoke highlight the need for stringent regulation of the consumption of cannabis cigarettes, thus limiting the development of adverse health effects such as cancer.".sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090615095940.htm


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## Cannabiscotti (Jun 17, 2009)

yea, but i don't see anyone running out to buy a vaporizer for their tobacco, making hash or oil out of it, or baking with it! (hey-could you pass me some of that tobacco butter)

"The smoking of 3-4 cannabis cigarettes a day is associated with the same degree of damage to bronchial mucus membranes as 20 or more tobacco cigarettes a day," 
ok, but when you say more how many is that?


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## viper1951 (Jun 17, 2009)

ya gotta love science ,look for all the bad in something , and not for the good it does . if it's really that bad for you, then how come it's been smoked for over 10 thousand years? Are We Still Here? Did You ever notice that when looking for answers for cancer they never look at the leading cause?  you know that crap that comes out of your exhaust pipe .Every year more people start driving
and every year the cancer rates go up! anyone else ever notice that? and the search for the truth continues. soon we will hear that pot causes you to become a congressman . or on the lighter side smoking pot makes your boobies bigger! I can go for that, light em up girls !


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## smokybear (Jun 17, 2009)

Everyone is so worried about the dangers of marijuana and they don't question why cigarettes or alcohol is legal... the two absolute worst scourges out there and nobody seems to have a problem with that.. why? It's all ** if you ask me.. Just my stoned thoughts.  Thanks for the story. Take care and be safe.


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## PencilHead (Jun 17, 2009)

Puuleeeezzzzz.  You're talking to some of the same people who were notified that our chromosomes would split when we were doing all that LSD back when, and our loins would sprout mutant little hippy larvae.  Screwed me up horribly--both of my kids were born toatlly naked.  What a burden to carry.

Unfortunately, at this point I really don't give a good Googly-moogly about my DNA, RNA or my chromosomes--done with breeding and too old to worry about the past.


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## Storm Crow (Jun 17, 2009)

Premiere British Medical Journal Pronounces Marijuana Safer Than Alcohol, Tobacco
    hxxp://cannabislink.ca/medical/safer.html

    Why Doesn't Smoking Marijuana Cause Cancer?
    hxxp://www.healthcentral.com/drdean/408/14275.html

    Marijuana Smoking Found Non-Carcinogenic
    hxxp://www.medpagetoday.com/HematologyOncology/LungCancer/tb/3393

Cannabis Smoke and Cancer: Assessing the Risk    
    hxxp://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6891

    Cannabis and tobacco smoke are not equally carcinogenic
    hxxp://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1277837

    Smoking Marijuana Does Not Cause Lung Cancer
    hxxp://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1065/a03.html

Smoking Cannabis Does Not Cause Cancer Of Lung or Upper Airways
    hxxp://ccrmg.org/journal/05aut/nocancer.html

    No association between lung cancer and cannabis smoking in large study
    hxxp://www.cannabis-med.org/english/bulletin/ww_en_db_cannabis_artikel.php?id=219#2

    Marijuana Smoking Found Non-Carcinogenic
    hxxp://www.medpagetoday.com/HematologyOncology/LungCancer/tb/3393


There are pages more in the link in my sig....


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## waterheadduo (Jun 17, 2009)

The truth will prevail eventually my friends.  This is just one "study" against marijuana when obviously from the earlier post, there are many, many more studies for marijuana.  How much you wanna bet these guys were paid by John Walters to supposedly find these bad "facts" about marijuana lol.


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## NYC_Diesel x Jack_Herer (Jun 17, 2009)

What DOESN"T cause cancer these days?  If I want to go to McDonald's and clog my arteries with a double-cheese, no big deal.  If I want to smoke a cigerette, no big deal.  If I want to take a job working with asbestos, they are available.  If I want to spend a few years in any major American city I can walk away with lung damage.  If I want to buy a bottle of beer and destroy my liver, no big deal.  
  The article still doesn't get the point.  If you can use medical marijuana to treat people instead of using drugs that are MORE HARMFUL than MJ, then it doesn't matter what you find out about MJ, it is still a FAR-LESS harmful treatment.  If I have a medical problem, and I can either treat it with morphine or medical MJ, which do you think is more dangerous?  Sure MJ may cause cancer down the road in a very small percentage of users (even though there has NEVER been a study done on this that I know of), but it is a better option than spending the next few years of my life addicted to morphine or painkilers.    

This statement here, "The smoking of 3-4 cannabis cigarettes a day is associated with the same degree of damage as 20 or more tobacco cigarettes a day," has been around FOREVER.  Yet I have never seen a study that showed this result.  I honestly think it is something someone made up a while back, got printed, and now everyone else just references it.  The statement doesn't even make sense.  What is in the pot?  How was it grown?  Was it flushed before harvest unlike tobacco?  Was it covered in different chemicals by RJ Reynolds?  No.  This statement is beyond stupid when you think about it.  It is the exact same thing as saying, "Beer is more dangerous than wine".  Ok...well what beer?  What wine?  Are we talking about Natural Light with a 2.5 alcohol content, or Icehouse with a 4.9% content.  What wine we talking about?  Gutter crap that is $4 a botle like Thunderbird?  Or a bottle of Kendall Jackson Reserve?  

Ah whats the point....I'm preaching to the choir.


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## PencilHead (Jun 17, 2009)

Glad to see you back, NYC.  Missed you, dad.


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## ozzydiodude (Jun 17, 2009)

Scare tatics sponcered by US gov't as usual


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## The Effen Gee (Jun 17, 2009)

Old news.

Inhaling smoke of ANY kind = Carcinogens.

Period. 

SMOKING pot is not as healthy as we all want it to be huh?


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## Shockeclipse (Jun 17, 2009)

I read a article in a High times I beleive from like the british journal of medicine or something along those lines that says that when you inhale mj smoke, certain cannabinoids bind with some sort of cells ( I beleive they were the ones associated with turning cancerous) and basically protect them from doing so to a degree.  The moral of that article was that the whole 1 joint=20smokes or whatever arguement was complete ** and it is actually better for you to smoke weed than ciggs.  I have also read numerous other articles that have scientists studying how mj consumption has been shrinking some cancers.  Whatever, I am going to smoke some now til I get head cancer and malignant couch-lock.


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## woopitt (Jun 17, 2009)

hXXp://blog.norml.org/2009/06/17/fox-news-infected-with-reefer-madness/

That picks the entire article apart.


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## PencilHead (Jun 18, 2009)

The Effen Gee said:
			
		

> Old news.
> 
> Inhaling smoke of ANY kind = Carcinogens.
> 
> ...


 
As we remember the demise of the most famous of the Marleys.  Yeah, Effen, it's a little scary, but me without the chill herb is also not a pretty thing.


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## WeedHopper (Jun 18, 2009)

Are these the same type morons that claimed weed distroyed brain cells. Remember the study where they used Monkeys with gas mask!!! Pot smoke was fed to thier lungs for long long long periods of time with no oxygen??? Yep,,they lost alot of brain cells cause the idiots were starving thier brains for oxygen. Government backed study dont ya think.


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## nikimadritista (Jun 18, 2009)

:rofl:
Sweden is the only country in Europe where you can be send on a rehab if caught with a spliff!
And if only you look stoned you can get arrested and tested for drugs!!!
No wonder it was the Swedes to finance such research!
Another Big Victory in the battle for a Drug-Free society!!!

Don't Go To Sweden if you wanna do drugs... :hubba:


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## mrkingford (Jun 18, 2009)

Fast food is one of the WORST health issues however no one is telling mcdonalds,wendys,burger king,taco bell, arbys, etc to close down.
Breathing city air is a health risk too, perhaps they should make and sell "bubble suits" to wear for those whom feel it necessary.


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## Shockeclipse (Jun 18, 2009)

nikimadritista said:
			
		

> :rofl:
> Sweden is the only country in Europe where you can be send on a rehab if caught with a spliff!
> And if only you look stoned you can get arrested and tested for drugs!!!
> No wonder it was the Swedes to finance such research!
> ...


I don't remembe if it was sweden or switzerland but one of those cou tries voted in to have locations where you could LEGALLY go and have supervised heroin injections, but they voted against legal pot like 70/30%


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