Smoker's saliva a 'cocktail of chemicals'

Yahoo ^ | 06/02/04 | Reuters

[Colosis]

LONDON (Reuters) - Smoking destroys protective molecules in saliva and transforms it into a dangerous cocktail of chemicals that increases the risk of mouth cancer, scientists say.

"Cigarette smoke is not only damaging on its own, it can turn the body against itself," said Dr Rafi Nagler, of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel.

Saliva contains antioxidants, molecules that normally protect the body against cancer, but Nagler and his colleagues have discovered that cigarette smoke destroys the molecules and turns saliva into a dangerous compound.

"Our study shows that once exposed to cigarette smoke, our normally healthy saliva not only loses its beneficial qualities but it turns traitor and actually aids in destroying the cells of the mouth and oral cavity," he added.

In research reported in the British Journal of Cancer on Wednesday, Nagler and his team studied the impact of cigarette smoke on cancerous cells in the laboratory.

Half of the cells were exposed to saliva exposed to cigarette smoke and the other half just to the smoke. Cells exposed to the saliva mixture had more damage and it increased along with the time of exposure.

"Most people will find it very shocking that the mixture of saliva and smoke is actually more lethal to cells in the mouth than cigarette smoke alone," Nagler added in a statement.

Smoking and drinking are the leading causes of head and neck or oral cancers, which includes cancer of the lip, mouth, tongue, gums, larynx and pharynx. Nearly 400,000 new cases of the illness are diagnosed worldwide each year with the majority in developing countries. The five-year survival rates are less than 50 percent.

Nagler and his colleagues believe the research could open up new avenues to develop better treatments to prevent oral cancer.

"This insight into how mouth cancer can develop offers more reasons for smokers to try and quit," said Jean King, of Cancer Research UK, which publishes the journal. "People know the link with lung cancer and this research adds compelling evidence about the damage smoking can do to the mouth."

[cinFLA]

I don't have to prove it's from a coal miner, they have to prove it wasn't.

YOU made the claim that it was from a coal minor. YOU have to prove your claim.

[cinFLA]

Is that from the same coal miner?

Please provide proof or your baseless claim.

[kcvl]

I guess you can't read either.

[CSM]

My questions about the pictures should be leading the poster to further clarifications, if you can't see that you are again being intellectually ignorant. Why do you get so upset when anyone else asks you to prove any claims you made, but you get so insistent when you make the demands? BTW, I asked a question I did not make a claim, there is a difference.

[Judith Anne]

There was a thread on here yesterday, about a governor who wants to raise taxes on cigarettes and liquor to pay for the school budget.

I'm certain that you'll tell me you disagree with that...right?

[CSM]

Health lung vs. lung with emphysema. Coal miners get emphysema. What other "reading" did I miss?

[cinFLA]

BTW, I asked a question I did not make a claim, there is a difference.

The question you asked was 'why'. Your claim was that it was a photo of a coal miner's lung. Please be honest.

[CSM]

That's comical, coming from you!

[VRWC_minion]

Health lung vs. lung with emphysema. Coal miners get emphysema. Most cases of emphysema are smokers.

[kcvl]

Cigarette smoke contains chemicals that irritate the air passages and lungs. When a smoker inhales these substances, the body tries to protect itself by coughing. The well-known "early morning" cough of smokers happens for a different reason. Normally, cilia (tiny hairlike formations lining the airways) beat outward and sweep harmful material out of the lungs. Cigarette smoke, however, decreases the sweeping action, so some of the poisons in the smoke remain in the lungs. When a smoker sleeps, some cilia recover and begin working again. After waking up, the smoker coughs because the lungs are trying to clear away the poisons that built up the previous day. Unfortunately, prolonged exposure to smoke completely destroys the cilia's ability to function. Then the smoker's lungs are even more exposed and susceptible than before, especially to bacteria and viruses in the air.

cigarettes don't just harm a smoker's lungs, they rot them. Cigarettes paralyse and can completely destroy the minute hairs, known as cilia, which line smokers' upper airways and protect them against infection (1) Cigarettes impair the lung's ability to absorb oxygen and get rid of carbon dioxide. (1)

Cigarettes irritate the lungs so the airways narrow, encouraging phlegm and making it harder to breathe. (1) And cigarettes force carbon monoxide into a smoker's blood.

Smoking causes blood vessels and blood cells to get sticky, which allows cholesterol and other dangerous fatty material to build up

Top is artery of non-smoker
Bottom is artery of smoker

The red-stained area shows the extent of the fatty streaks and raised lesions on the artery walls of the smoker.

[bikepacker67]

How's this?

[GSWarrior]

Good luck. I stopped in September. FWIW, here's what I did. I kept my smelly ashtrays around the house for months and occasionally took a good whiff from them. I visualized myself smoking as much as possible. I smoked 'air cigarettes'. I tried to injest as much second hand smoke as possible.

None of the above is probably the "recommended" way to stop, but I'd already spent enough of my money on the tobacco industy. I wasn't about to spend money on patches, gum, whatever. So far, it has worked. But those first 3 or 4 days are the hardest.

[CSM]

Most cases of emphysema occur in veterans. So what?

[CSM]

Your entire post discusses smoke's affect on lungs, then you show a picture of arteries. How do we know that these arteries aren't from an obese person who also happened to smoke?

[cinFLA]

Most cases of emphysema occur in veterans. So what?

Probably from the free cigarettes they were given during the war.

[kcvl]

[CSM]

Reminds me of the "tar" in a jar used in demonstrations that ended up being molasses. When behaviour modification techniques continue to fail, step up the propaganda, even the "conservatives" will kerry the message to the unwashed masses!

[cinFLA]

http://www.visn1.med.va.gov/news/wellness/fall01/3.htm

Sadly, veterans are over represented among the more than 400,000 Americans who die each year from smoking-related illnesses. The fatality rate is greater than that of other drugs, alcohol, fires, violent crimes, automobile accidents and HIV combined. Despite these grim statistics, many smokers feel that they can't master quitting smoking without help.

[Judith Anne]

Could be arteries from someone with hereditary hypercholesterolemia.

Anyway, that governor who wanted to raise taxes on cigarettes and liquor to pay for school programs (probably diversity teachers' salaries) doesn't want anyone in HER state to quit smoking. I wonder how many of the niconazis preaching here would support that governor....none of them showed up on THAT thread, did you notice? No artery pictures there....

[CSM]

Riiiight, the gunpowder didn't have anything to do with it. The exposure to many chemicals had nothing to do with it. Genetics has nothing to do with it. It's all the fault of a few burning tobacco leaves 20 or 50 years ago!

How do you expect anyone to take you seriously?