Smoking marijuana causes more damage to cells and DNA than smoking tobacco, scientists say.
Credit: Wikimedia
BOSTON: Marijuana smoke harms cells and DNA more than tobacco smoke does, while tobacco causes more intensive damage to chromosome structure, new research reports.
The study highlights the risks of marijuana, which are not as well known as those from smoking tobacco, said the authors, led by Rebecca Maertens a scientist with Canadian government research body Health Canada in Ottawa, Ontario. Their work is published in the August issue of the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology.
Genetic damage
“It is clear that this information does not support the misconception popular among youth that marijuana is safer than cigarettes,” said Gary Holub a spokesperson for Health Canada.
Like tobacco, marijuana has been associated with respiratory problems such as chronic bronchitis. But neither marijuana plant extracts nor THC, the main psychoactive component of marijuana, have been definitively linked to lung cancer.
Establishing the exact risks of smoking marijuana has been difficult, the experts said, because most study subjects have also smoked tobacco.
The new study exposed bacterial and animal cells in the laboratory to smoke condensates, which are mixtures produced by dissolving filtered smoke particles. The mixtures were prepared in two different ways, one representing damage from smoking directly, the other from passive smoking.
Cell death
The researchers found that marijuana smoke caused different types of genetic damage than tobacco smoke. Marijuana condensates were more likely to kill the cells or cause DNA damage. In contrast, tobacco condensates were more likely to change the structure of chromosomes within the cells.
Maertens’ team is continuing their cellular studies to determine the underlying reasons for these different responses. “Such work will help us better understand the potential health hazards of marijuana smoke exposure,” Holub said.
Wayne Hall, a public health professor and cannabis expert at the University of Queensland, in Australia, said the study confirms earlier evidence that marijuana smoke can produce mutations in genetic material.
However, the researchers did not show if those mutations are cancer causing, he said. “They do not enable us to estimate the magnitude of the risk.”
oh please.
I love how they neglect to explain how eating marijuana causes no bodily or cell damage. Propaganda at its finest.
Uhh what? What is the ratio
Uhh what? What is the ratio of people that eat marijuana to those that smoke it? I would bet a lot of money that it is smoked much more than it is eaten. Also, you're claiming proof of a negative. We can't know that eating marijuana causes no damage, though if no studies find a link we can start to think it likely, but regardless we can never know that eating marijuana does not do any damage.
that argument applies to
that argument applies to absolutely everything though...
really?
Harvard had studies in the 90's about how consuming thc oil kills cancer cells through a process of programed sucide
oh please
I love how there's no mention of the actual filtration method, and that not all the smoke condences how else could you exhale any? Also, having your DNA broken is one thing, definantly cell death, but having it mutated is a whole different monster, it's not broken, it's replaced and the dna is then free to divide and copy that mutated DNA, that's cancer, not cell death. Also what exactly qualifies and first or seccond hand smoke after youve condenced it into a liquid?
eating marijuana and no damage
The study was on the effects of smoking and the condensates from smoking, so unless you swallow your doobies, the study kept to its topic. They couldn't really mention it because they didn't study it. It wouldn't be right to say either way in a summary of results if it wasn't part of the study. My best hypothesis: If someone's body or cells absorbs whatever chemicals are created by digesting marijuana and it goes into the cells, it is possible that some genetic damage could occur. Feel free to design a study to test it.
Marijuana more damaging than thought?
Are you suggesting we smoke more and think less?
LOL
Thanks for the chuckle--personally, I'm gonna do both, smoke more & think less. :D
All things cause harm if
All things cause harm if used in excess. Too many peanuts may poison you with cyanide(eg). My point is... don't overdo anything. I believe nothing is bad for you, in the right quantities..., but how much? Maybe a drop will kill one, perhaps benefit another...Maybe??? We must decide for ourselves, each for their own, with RESPECT- for oneself and all others.
Same old same old
Marijuana damages cells BUT it seems to fight some kinds of cancer. The smoke is possibly dangerous (duh, have you seen how it makes people cough? The lungs don't like it) BUT vaporizers and eating eliminate that risk. People don't usually eat or vaporize it? First, pot is expensive, thanks to prohibition, hence smoking is the most cost-effective delivery method; second, vaporizers are hard to come by, thanks to prohibition (equipment sellers are in constant danger of arrest, despite legal uses for their product, simply because they can also be used [and, to be honest, more likely are] for marijuanan. SO prohibition makes marijuana MORE dangerous, and as a side effect prevents every human being from being able to take advantage of its cancer-preventing benefits. Win-win.
BTW, I'm a non-user.