What Is The Purpose Of Packing Cigarettes – In a new study, scientists measured the genetic damage caused by smoking in different parts of the body and found that smokers accumulated an average of 150 extra mutations in each lung cell compared to those who smoked a pack a day. Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Los Alamos National Laboratory and their colleagues identified several mechanisms by which smoking causes mutations in DNA. According to Science Daily, the study shows a direct link between the number of cigarettes smoked over a lifetime and mutations in tumor DNA.
The highest mutation rates are found in lung cancers, but tumors in other parts of the body carry smoking-related mutations, Science Daily reports, explaining how smoking causes many types of human cancer. In the DNA analysis of smoking-related cancers, researchers studied more than 5,000 tumors and compared cancers from smokers to those from people who had never smoked. The research team looked for mutational signatures, or molecular fingerprints of DNA damage, in smokers’ DNA and calculated how many of these specific mutations were found in different tumors.
What Is The Purpose Of Packing Cigarettes
On average, the research team found that smoking one pack of cigarettes a day causes 150 mutations in each lung cell, and that the mutations represent individual potential starting points for a cascade of genetic damage that ultimately leads to cancer. The number of mutations in different cancer cells varies among different people, but this study, as reported in Science Daily, shows an additional mutational burden due to smoking.
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“Before, we had a lot of epidemiological evidence linking smoking to cancer, but now we can see and measure the molecular changes in the DNA of smokers,” said first author Dr. Ludmil Alexandrov explains. . “With this study, we found that people who smoke a pack of cigarettes a day develop an average of 150 additional mutations in their lungs each year, which explains why smokers have a higher risk of developing lung cancer.”
In addition, other organs are affected, and research shows that a pack a day causes an average of 97 mutations per cell in the larynx, 39 mutations in the throat, 23 mutations in the mouth, 18 mutations in the bladder and 6 mutations. mutations One liver cell turnover per year. This study revealed at least 5 different processes of DNA damage caused by smoking.
“The results are a mix of potential and indirect effects and paint a picture of both direct and indirect effects. Changes caused by direct DNA damage from tobacco carcinogens are primarily seen in organs directly exposed to inhaled smoke,” says lead author Professor David. Phillips. “And other cells in the body are affected indirectly, because smoking affects the basic mechanisms in these cells, which in turn changes the DNA.”
The lead author of the study, from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, said: “Our research shows that the way smoking causes cancer is more complex than we thought. This study on smoking suggests that looking at the DNA of cancer can provide us with exciting innovations. information on prevention. We aim to contribute 2500 this month. Clear and accessible coverage of our policies and more. Will it happen today? Can you help us by donating? ×
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So share all your sharing options: Remove cigarette packs from ads around the world. But not in America.
Cigarette packs have long served as portable advertising for tobacco companies, easily spreading branding and image wherever smokers go.
Packaging has been a major target of health officials in the global effort to wean more people off deadly tobacco products.
This week, the World Health Organization called on all countries to step up the fight against tobacco advertising and promotion by introducing plain or standard packaging for tobacco products.
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“Plain packaging reduces the appeal of tobacco products,” said WHO director-general Margaret Chan. “It exudes glamour, which is perfect for a product that grabs people’s attention.”
Images of cigarette packs from Australia, which introduced plain packaging in 2012. David Hammond
In 2012, Australia was the first in the world to introduce this measure. Tobacco companies there are now banned from using logos, colors and brand images, and instead have to use a standard (disgusting green) color and simple font. The boxes contain warnings about the dangers of smoking, including scary pictures of what smoking can do to the body.
Other countries – France, the UK and Ireland – are now following Australia’s lead and introducing their own plain packaging rules. Norway, Hungary, Slovenia, Sweden, Finland, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, Belgium and South Africa have formally adopted similar measures.
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In particular, the United States is not likely to adopt plain packaging for cigarettes anytime soon. Below, we’ll take a look at why we’re lagging behind in this area, and why we really shouldn’t be. But first, here’s why plain packaging makes sense for public health.
Before and after photos of cigarette packs from Australia, which introduced plain packaging in 2012. David Hammond
Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death worldwide, killing an estimated 6 million people each year. Tobacco marketing is considered a major driver of tobacco consumption – the industry spends billions each year marketing its products to consumers. Tobacco companies use colors (think “light,” “organic,” or “low tar”) and language (think “light,” “organic,” or “low tar”) to mislead consumers about the relative harms of certain types of tobacco. . do.”).
In order to counter these marketing efforts, governments began requiring packaging to contain serious pictures of the health effects of tobacco in 2000. (This has more impact than text alerts.)
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Plain packaging introduced the world’s first regulations in Australia in 2012. According to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a global health agreement aimed at reducing the use of tobacco products, plain cigarette packs have three public health benefits: they remove tobacco products. They display more health warnings and limit the use of designs by tobacco companies to mislead consumers.
There is good evidence to support this. Several systematic reviews of research have reached consistent conclusions that plain packaging works. This is according to the results of 2015:
Studies using a variety of methods, including observational and experimental studies, have shown that plain packaging reduces the appeal of cigarettes, reduces the power of cigarette packs as a marketing tool, draws attention to health warning labels, and increases tobacco-related harm. Attitudes and awareness.
From Australia, now four years after the plain packaging effort, there is strong evidence that the move has had an impact on smoking habits. The government looked at the impact of the packaging changes and found that between December 2012 and September 2015, smoking rates fell by an additional 0.55 percentage points – this was due to the packaging changes alone (and not to other anti-tobacco policies implemented in the country). .the time).
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“That’s more than 108,000 people who will quit, start again or start smoking during that time,” the WHO said. This is a great victory for public health.
But David Hammond, an anti-tobacco policy expert at the University of Waterloo, points out that the policy is not about forcing people to quit. They are more about prevention: reducing the number of people who start smoking and protecting young people from tobacco sales. “The benefits are cumulative and will increase over time as kids grow up without a positive brand image on packages,” Hammond said.
Either way, they seem to help. According to Crawford Moody, a cigarette packaging researcher at the University of Stirling, this is not surprising: “The evidence [on the benefits of plain packaging] is consistent with the idea that packaging is an important marketing tool. Internal documents of the tobacco industry”. Indeed, the tobacco industry’s connections were exposed by law, shedding light on how the industry misled consumers.
“If you look at what the tobacco companies have said,” Moody added, “it paints a very strong picture of the packaging.”
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Ironically, when a country proposes to introduce plain packaging on cigarettes, tobacco companies threaten to sue. They typically challenge packaging restrictions on the grounds that they violate international trade and trademark laws and freedom of expression.
The Australian government faced three different challenges, two of which it won (the third is still pending). In a particularly bold move, Philip Morris International used the provisions of the bilateral trade agreement between Hong Kong and Australia to transfer ownership of its Australian operations to Hong Kong. Lost.
Last week, tobacco companies in the UK tried to stop it
