Press Release: Exposure to Carcinogens Not Proportionally Decreased by Reduction in Smoking

Extract

Smokers who substantially reduce the number of cigarettes they smoke per day are exposed to lower amounts of a potent tobacco carcinogen; however, the reduction in the amount or concentration of the carcinogen exposure is often transient and is not proportional to the reduction in cigarettes smoked. These study results appear in the January 21 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Cigarette smoking is the cause of 90% of the world’s lung cancer cases, but it is not known whether smokers who reduce the number of cigarettes smoked per day also decrease their risk of lung cancer.

Stephen S. Hecht, Ph.D., of the University of Minnesota Cancer Center, Minneapolis, and colleagues set out to answer this question by measuring the metabolites of a specific tobacco carcinogen in the urine of smokers who were part of a structured smoking reduction program. The carcinogen, NNK, along with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, are some of the most important tobacco carcinogens with respect to lung cancer.