c-ray
05-24-2006, 11:43 PM
24 May 2006
Steve Marshall Reporting
KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO
http://www.knx1070.com/pages/39116.php
LOS ANGELES, CA (KNX) -- Even the researchers themselves were surprised by the findings of a new study that indicates marijuana smoking does not increase a person's risk for lung cancer.
The study from the University of California at Los Angeles, compared the lifestyles of 611 Los Angeles County lung cancer patients and 601 patients with head and neck cancers with those of 1,040 people without cancer, found no elevated cancer risk for even the heaviest smokers of weed.
Conversely, the UCLA study did find a 20-fold increase in lung cancer risk in people who smoke who or more packs of cigarettes a day.
The study focused on people under the age of 60, since baby boomers were the most likely age group to have experienced long-term exposure to marijuana.
Dr. John Hansen-Flaschen, chief of pulmonary and critical care at the University of Pennsylvania Health System in Philadelphia, said the results should not be taken as a blank check to smoke pot, which has been associated with problems like cognitive impairment and chronic bronchitis. Hansen-Flaschen was not involved in the study.
What made the results of the study so surprising was the fact that previous testing has shown that marijuana tar contains about 50 percent more of the chemicals linked to lung cancer than tar found in tobacco. In addition, smoking a joint deposits four times more tar in the lungs than smoking a regular cigarette.
"Marijuana is packed more loosely than tobacco, so there's less filtration through the rod of the cigarette, so more particles will be inhaled,'' said Dr. Donald Tashkin, senior researcher and professor at the UCLA School of Medicine.
"And marijuana smokers typically smoke differently than tobacco smokers -- they hold their breath about four times longer, allowing more time for extra fine particles to deposit in the lung.''
He theorized that tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, a chemical in marijuana smoke that produces its psychotropic effect, may encourage aging, damaged cells to die off before they become cancerous.
Steve Marshall Reporting
KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO
http://www.knx1070.com/pages/39116.php
LOS ANGELES, CA (KNX) -- Even the researchers themselves were surprised by the findings of a new study that indicates marijuana smoking does not increase a person's risk for lung cancer.
The study from the University of California at Los Angeles, compared the lifestyles of 611 Los Angeles County lung cancer patients and 601 patients with head and neck cancers with those of 1,040 people without cancer, found no elevated cancer risk for even the heaviest smokers of weed.
Conversely, the UCLA study did find a 20-fold increase in lung cancer risk in people who smoke who or more packs of cigarettes a day.
The study focused on people under the age of 60, since baby boomers were the most likely age group to have experienced long-term exposure to marijuana.
Dr. John Hansen-Flaschen, chief of pulmonary and critical care at the University of Pennsylvania Health System in Philadelphia, said the results should not be taken as a blank check to smoke pot, which has been associated with problems like cognitive impairment and chronic bronchitis. Hansen-Flaschen was not involved in the study.
What made the results of the study so surprising was the fact that previous testing has shown that marijuana tar contains about 50 percent more of the chemicals linked to lung cancer than tar found in tobacco. In addition, smoking a joint deposits four times more tar in the lungs than smoking a regular cigarette.
"Marijuana is packed more loosely than tobacco, so there's less filtration through the rod of the cigarette, so more particles will be inhaled,'' said Dr. Donald Tashkin, senior researcher and professor at the UCLA School of Medicine.
"And marijuana smokers typically smoke differently than tobacco smokers -- they hold their breath about four times longer, allowing more time for extra fine particles to deposit in the lung.''
He theorized that tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, a chemical in marijuana smoke that produces its psychotropic effect, may encourage aging, damaged cells to die off before they become cancerous.