Tweet
If you didn't think you should quit smoking before reading this, you will afterward.
Big Tobacco Hid Cancer Studies
In 1998, a legal settlement forced the release of dozens
of previously unexamined tobacco industry documents that
revealed that the tobacco industry knew of the potential lung
cancer risk from radioactivity from tobacco as early as the late
1950s. This week, a study from UCLA shows that more than forty
years ago, tobacco companies deliberately prevented the release
of findings about radioactivity in tobacco (Nicotine & Tobacco
Research, published online September 27, 2011).
Hrayr S. Karagueuzian, the first author of the study
states: "They knew that the cigarette smoke was radioactive way
back then and that it could potentially result in cancer, and
they deliberately kept that information under wraps,"
Science Daily (September 28, 2011) interviewed the
authors and quoted them as saying: "Radioactive polonium-210 was
found in all commercially available domestic and foreign
cigarette brands. It is absorbed by tobacco leaves through
naturally occurring radon gas in the atmosphere and through
high-phosphate chemical fertilizers used by tobacco growers. The
substance is eventually inhaled by smokers into the lungs. The
estimated radiation absorbed dose by regular smokers over a 20-
or 25-year period equaled 40 to 50 rads, which is equal to 120
to 138 deaths per 1,000 regular smokers over a 25-year period."
"Despite the potential risk of lung cancer, tobacco
companies declined to adopt a technique discovered in 1959 and
then another developed in 1980 that could have helped eliminate
polonium-210 from tobacco, the researchers said. The 1980
technique, known as an acid-wash, was found to be highly
effective in removing the radioisotope from tobacco plants,
where it forms a water-insoluble complex with the sticky, hair-
like structures called trichomes that cover the leaves."
"The industry was concerned that the acid media would
ionize the nicotine, making it more difficult to be absorbed
into the brains of smokers and depriving them of that instant
nicotine rush that fuels their addiction."
Big Tobacco Hid Cancer Studies
In 1998, a legal settlement forced the release of dozens
of previously unexamined tobacco industry documents that
revealed that the tobacco industry knew of the potential lung
cancer risk from radioactivity from tobacco as early as the late
1950s. This week, a study from UCLA shows that more than forty
years ago, tobacco companies deliberately prevented the release
of findings about radioactivity in tobacco (Nicotine & Tobacco
Research, published online September 27, 2011).
Hrayr S. Karagueuzian, the first author of the study
states: "They knew that the cigarette smoke was radioactive way
back then and that it could potentially result in cancer, and
they deliberately kept that information under wraps,"
Science Daily (September 28, 2011) interviewed the
authors and quoted them as saying: "Radioactive polonium-210 was
found in all commercially available domestic and foreign
cigarette brands. It is absorbed by tobacco leaves through
naturally occurring radon gas in the atmosphere and through
high-phosphate chemical fertilizers used by tobacco growers. The
substance is eventually inhaled by smokers into the lungs. The
estimated radiation absorbed dose by regular smokers over a 20-
or 25-year period equaled 40 to 50 rads, which is equal to 120
to 138 deaths per 1,000 regular smokers over a 25-year period."
"Despite the potential risk of lung cancer, tobacco
companies declined to adopt a technique discovered in 1959 and
then another developed in 1980 that could have helped eliminate
polonium-210 from tobacco, the researchers said. The 1980
technique, known as an acid-wash, was found to be highly
effective in removing the radioisotope from tobacco plants,
where it forms a water-insoluble complex with the sticky, hair-
like structures called trichomes that cover the leaves."
"The industry was concerned that the acid media would
ionize the nicotine, making it more difficult to be absorbed
into the brains of smokers and depriving them of that instant
nicotine rush that fuels their addiction."
Comment