Marijuana Smokers Not at Risk for Oral Cancer

[Alicia]

Edit note: Makes swia a tad happier but genetics is a pain in the ass..

http://www.jointogether.org/news/res...okers-not.html

Study: Marijuana Smokers Not at Risk for Oral Cancer
June*3,*2004

A study by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Wash., concludes that recreational marijuana smoking doesn't appear to increase the risk of oral cancer, the Seattle Times reported June 2.

"Oral cancer probably shouldn't be one of the things people should worry about when they decide whether to smoke marijuana," said Stephen Schwartz, a member of the center's public-health sciences division and the study's senior author. "Our study found no relationship between marijuana and cancer."

The study's findings contradict a 1999 UCLA study that concluded that marijuana smokers were more likely to develop head and neck cancers than nonusers.

Schwartz and his team of researchers analyzed 407 oral-cancer patients and 615 healthy participants from western Washington. Nearly all of the study participants smoked marijuana less than once a week, while 1 percent of the cancer patients and 2 percent of the healthy participants were daily users of the drug.

The researchers could find no link between oral cancer and marijuana use.

The study's findings are published in the June 2004 issue of Cancer Research, the journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

http://www.fhcrc.org/research/diseases/oral_cancer/

Disease Background

Description of the Disease

There are two types of oral cancer: oral cavity cancer, which starts in the mouth, and oropharyngeal cancer, which develops in the part of the throat just behind the mouth (the oropharynx). Oral cancer can affect the cheeks, tongue, mouth and/or throat.




Who is at Risk?

Most cases of oral cancer are related to the use of tobacco and alcohol. Quitting tobacco (or never using it) and limiting alcohol use to one drink per day or less sharply reduces the risk, even after many years of use.



This type of cancer is more common in men than women because of drinking and smoking habits. Men over 40 are most at risk. African Americans are diagnosed with oral cancer more often than whites.



Other risk factors include eating few fruits and vegetables and contracting human papillomavirus (HPV), a common sexually transmitted disease.






Our Research



Overview of Hutchinson Center Research



Oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer will strike about 30,000 in the United States this year, and an estimated 7,430 people will die of these cancers.



Researchers at the Hutchinson Center are using sensitive DNA tests to help predict the aggressiveness of a patient's oral cancer, which can guide treatment. Gene studies also may allow for earlier detection when the cancer is more easily treated.



Because we're bombarded with information about what makes us more vulnerable to cancer, it's important to know what doesn't raise cancer risk. Hutchinson Center scientists found that marijuana use does not increase the likelihood of getting oral cancer, contrary to earlier study findings.






Profiling the patterns and progression of oral cancer



Pinpointing the genetic changes associated with the risk and progression of oral cancer is the goal of a five-year, $4.2 million study funded by the National Cancer Institute and led by Dr. Chu Chen at the Hutchinson Center.



Using techniques that permit the simultaneous analysis of thousands of genes, Chen and colleagues will identify those that are switched on or off as normal tissue becomes cancerous, as well as track the gene-expression changes that occur as patients undergo treatment. Such genetic patterns could be used to predict the aggressiveness of a patient's cancer and, ultimately, guide a doctor's choice of therapy based on a patient's prognosis.



The genetic profiling will be conducted on tissue samples obtained from about 400 patients at the University of Washington, Harborview Medical Center and the VA Puget Sound Health Care System of Seattle who consent to participate in the research. Participants also will complete detailed questionnaires that ask about lifestyle factors and provide information regarding their course of cancer therapy.



Currently, doctors look at a tumor's location, thickness and whether the disease has spread to nearby lymph nodes to predict a patient's outcome. Such assessments do not provide information about whether tissue immediately outside the tumor boundaries is likely to become cancerous or whether additional treatment after surgery is required.



Since tobacco use is a major risk factor for oral cancer, the results of this study may also prove informative for lung and other tobacco-induced cancers.


Study breaks link between pot smoking and oral cancer

Despite previous research results that suggested a link, marijuana use does not appear to be associated with an increased risk of developing oral cancer, according to a comprehensive study led by Hutchinson Center researcher Dr. Stephen Schwartz.



The study, conducted in collaboration with researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Seattle's Center for Health Studies, Group Health Cooperative, found no association between marijuana use and increased oral-cancer risk, regardless of how long, how much or how often a person has used marijuana. The study also found no increased risk among marijuana users who had other underlying risk factors for oral cancer, such as a history of tobacco use or heavy alcohol use.

The study involved 407 oral-cancer cases and 615 healthy control subjects from western Washington who had been interviewed in detail about their history of marijuana use, among other lifestyle factors. Participants, both male and female, ranged in age from 18 to 65. The oral-cancer cases were identified through a population-based cancer registry housed at Fred Hutchinson that is part of the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results program.

Study breaks link between pot smoking and oral cancer



Researchers counter previous reports and find no association between marijuana use and incidence of oral cancer






By KRISTEN WOODWARD






Contrary to previous research findings that have suggested a link, marijuana use does not appear to be associated with an increased risk of developing oral cancer, according to a study led by researchers in the Public Health Sciences Division.



Their findings, the result of the most comprehensive evaluation to date regarding the association between marijuana use and the incidence of oral squamous-cell carcinoma, appear in the June issue of Cancer Research, a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research.



The study, conducted in collaboration with researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Seattleís Center for Health Studies, Group Health Cooperative, found no association between marijuana use and increased oral-cancer risk, regardless of how long, how much or how often a person has used marijuana. The study also found no increased risk among marijuana users who had other underlying risk factors for oral cancer, such as a history of tobacco use or heavy alcohol use.



ìWhen asking whether any marijuana use puts you at increased risk of oral cancer, our study is pretty solid in saying thereís nothing going on there,î said Dr. Stephen Schwartz, senior author of the study.



Study parameters



The study involved 407 oral-cancer cases and 615 healthy control subjects from western Washington who had been interviewed in detail about their history of marijuana use, among other lifestyle factors. Participants, both male and female, ranged in age from 18 to 65. The oral-cancer cases were identified through a population-based cancer registry housed at Fred Hutchinson that is part of the National Cancer Instituteís Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results program.



The Fred Hutchinson study counters findings from a smaller investigation, widely publicized in 1999, which suggested that ever-users of marijuana were at more than twice the risk of getting head-and-neck squamous-cell carcinoma as compared to non-users.



ìOur study casts a fair bit of doubt on the overall conclusion of the previous study,î Schwartz said.



Previous findings



The earlier study had a number of limitations, most importantly the fact that its control, or comparison, group was comprised of individuals who had donated blood at the same hospital where the oral-cancer cases had been treated.



ìBlood donors tend to have fewer high-risk habits than the general population,î Schwartz said, referring to the fact that theyíre screened for certain lifestyle factors such as intravenous-drug use as well as for previous infection with HIV and hepatitis. Blood donors might therefore be less likely to have a history of marijuana use, he said. ìWe felt our study, which used controls selected from the general population, could more accurately determine whether oral-cancer patients were more likely to have used marijuana,î he said.



Because the incidence of extensive, long-term marijuana use was so low among the study population — a reflection of the population at large — it is unclear whether extremely heavy use over many years is related to the risk oral cancer, Schwartz said.



National surveys have found that about a quarter of the population has smoked marijuana at some point in their lives, and that about 4 percent of the population, or 6 million people, report occasional use of marijuana.



Habitual use on the rise



While the incidence of casual marijuana use has remained stable during the past decade, habitual use or abuse appears to be on the rise. Two recent, nationally representative surveys by the National Institute on Drug Abuse found habitual marijuana use or dependence has increased more than 20 percent in the past decade among American adults, particularly young minorities and baby boomers. Such use is defined as repeated use of the drug resulting in marijuana-related legal problems or difficulties functioning at work, in school or in social situations.



According to the American Cancer Society, more than 28,000 new cases of oral cavity/pharynx cancer are expected this year; incidence rates are more than twice as high in men as in women. The five-year survival rate for all stages combined is 57 percent.

*below swia found these, Hope there useful:*

[Nackrite]

good to here more cancer thoeries about marijuana are debunking

[voodoo child]

Awesome. I'll have to bookmark this.

I always read this stuff but can never regurgitate the facts or specifics of it whenever I need to. I remember being in class last year and some stupid pasty fat kid was telling me that marijuana could cause cancer, and he essentially won the argument just because I couldn't cite anything specific.

I love how fat people who don't smoke pot preach against it when being obeise does far more harm to your body. That's America for ya'.

(BTW - I don't need to use SWIM in posts that wouldn't incriminate me, right?)