Smoking Report: Why 'Lighting Up' C

Smoking Report: Why 'Lighting Up' Causes So Many Diseases
Fifty years after the first U.S. Surgeon General's report in 1964 warned about the link between smoking and lung cancer, research continues to identify more diseases that are directly caused by smoking.

Now, liver and colorectal cancers have been added to the list of cancers for which there's sufficient data to infer smoking is not merely linked to but actually can cause the diseases, according to the newest Surgeon General's report released today (Jan 17).
Cigarette smoke contains thousands of compounds, including 69 known to be carcinogens, chemicals that are directly involved in causing cancer. Carcinogens can result in tumors by damaging the genome or disrupting the cell's metabolic processes.
Smoking is responsible for more than 90 percent of lung cancers. But traces of tobacco carcinogens have been found in other organs as well. For example, pieces of DNA bound to carcinogens have been found in breast tissue and breast milk, according to the report authors, who reviewed new research over the recent years.