Canada - Growing Evidence Of Marijuana Smoke's Potential Dangers

[Phungushead]

Growing Evidence Of Marijuana Smoke's Potential Dangers

In a finding that challenges the increasingly popular belief that smoking marijuana is less harmful to health than smoking tobacco, researchers in Canada are reporting that smoking marijuana, like smoking tobacco, has toxic effects on cells.

Rebecca Maertens and colleagues note that people often view marijuana as a "natural" product and less harmful than tobacco. As public attitudes toward marijuana change and legal restrictions ease in some countries, use of marijuana is increasing.

Scientists know that marijuana smoke has adverse effects on the lungs. However, there is little knowledge about marijuana's potential to cause lung cancer due to the difficulty in identifying and studying people who have smoked only marijuana.

The new study begins to address that question by comparing marijuana smoke vs. tobacco smoke in terms of toxicity to cells and to DNA. Scientists exposed cultured animal cells and bacteria to condensed smoke samples from both marijuana and tobacco. There were distinct differences in the degree and type of toxicity elicited by marijuana and cigarette smoke.

Marijuana smoke caused significantly more damage to cells and DNA than tobacco smoke, the researchers note. However, tobacco smoke caused chromosome damage while marijuana did not.

August 05, 2009

Journal Reference:

• Rebecca M. Maertens, Paul A. White, William Rickert, Genevieve Levasseur, George R. Douglas, Pascale V. Bellier, James P. McNamee, Vidya Thuppal, Mike Walker, Suzanne Desjardins. The Genotoxicity of Mainstream and Sidestream Marijuana and Tobacco Smoke Condensates. Chemical Research in Toxicology, Online July 17, 2009 DOI: 10.1021/tx9000286

Adapted from materials provided by American Chemical Society.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0805110741.htm

[Phungushead]

I was not able to acquire the document listed in the news article above
(The Genotoxicity of Mainstream and Sidestream Marijuana and Tobacco
Smoke Condensates)... hint hint

However, I have uploaded a PDF of a related study from 2007 (by many of
the same researchers) here:

A Comparison of Mainstream and Sidestream Marijuana and Tobacco Cigarette Smoke Produced under Two Machine Smoking Conditions
http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/loc...21&linkid=7480

[staples]

Originally Posted by Phungushead

I was not able to acquire the document listed in the news article above
(The Genotoxicity of Mainstream and Sidestream Marijuana and Tobacco
Smoke Condensates)... hint hint

I found it and uploaded it to the file archive. It should be available soon here.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Thank you for digging up and uploading this file!

[rhcpeppers1234]

Why do people still think that smoking weed isnt harmful. Swim still does it, swim even smokes cigarettes, but neither one is more healthy than the other. When people smoke out of bowls or bongs the butane lighter is ignited for about 3-4 times longer than that of a cigarette, so that myth is busted. Also people think that weed doesnt build up in the lungs. LOOK AT SWIYS PIECE AFTER 5 SESSIONS. Both nicotine and chronic are damaging to the lungs. The article says there is little info on whether or not just weed is damaging to the lungs, or can cause lung cancer.....Its smoke, it doesnt matter whats in it, its still NOT GOOD. Why is this still in the news???? People that are trying to legalize weed or help get it legalized need to focus on things that actually matter. Nicotine is legal, and theres plenty of evidence that it causes lung cancer.....yet its still legal, and its been around just as long as weed.....

rhcpeppers1234 added 3 Minutes and 3 Seconds later...

Oh and BTW, Phungushead, your avatar is an exact replica of me at a Phish concert, on plenty of molly