Just one cigarette and the risk of developing lung cancer is already at your door! According to an American study, less than 30 minutes after our first inhalation, the polycyclic hydrocarbons contained in tobacco are at work and attacking our cells’ DNA. In other words, smoking presents a danger from the very first cigarette!
Polycyclic hydrocarbons, and 3,4 benzopyrenes in particular, are well known as being carcinogenic.
They carry formidable cancerization factors right along the route that the tobacco smoke follows, including the lips, tongue, pharynx, larynx and bronchial tubes.
We all know this. However, researchers at the University of Minnesota in the United States, were extremely surprised to discover the speed of the damage caused by these hydrocarbons in 12 volunteer smokers.
As the WHO reminds us that there is no such thing as a good cigarette. The risks are there from the very first puff…
As well as the lungs, there are no fewer than 18 types of cancer caused by smoking and affecting ten or so of the body’s organs and systems.
The main targets are the nose, the pharynx, the kidneys, the mouth, the lips, the bladder, the pancreas, the larynx, the oesophagus, the digestive organs and the sinuses.
Smoking leads to more than 5 million deaths worldwide every year and remains the leading avoidable cause of death.
