RESEARCH - Just one cigarette can harm DNA

[Guest guest]

Just one cigarette can harm DNA, Surgeon General says

By Liz Szabo, USA TODAY

09 Dec 2010

Even brief exposure to tobacco smoke causes immediate harm to the

body, damaging cells and inflaming tissue in ways that can lead to

serious illness and death, according to the U.S. Surgeon General's new

report on tobacco, the first such report in four years.

While the report, out today, focuses on the medical effects of smoke

on the body, it also sheds light on why cigarettes are so addictive:

They are designed to deliver nicotine more quickly and more

efficiently than cigarettes did decades ago.

Every exposure to tobacco, from occasional smoking or secondhand

smoke, can damage DNA in ways that lead to cancer.

" Tobacco smoke damages almost every organ in your body, " says Surgeon

General Regina . In someone with underlying heart disease, she

says, " One cigarette can cause a heart attack. "

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Read the full article here:

http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/health/2010-12-09-1Asmoking09_st_N.htm?csp=34ne\

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Not an MD