Have just read this article and thought it would be a good idea to post it here as some positive reinforcement for all quitters and those that may be thinking of quitting:
Smoking makes saliva potentially lethal
Daily Mail, UK
2nd June 2004
Smoking cigarettes can turn saliva in the mouth into a potentially lethal cocktail that promotes cancer, researchers said today.
Normally saliva acts as a buffer that protects the lining of the mouth from harmful substances. But new research shows that spit can be poisoned by chemicals in cigarette smoke.
They destroy its protective components, leaving a corrosive mix that damages cells in the mouth and can lead to cancer.
Mouth cancer claims almost 8,000 new victims and 3,000 lives each year in the UK, chiefly as a result of smoking.
For the new study, researchers re-created the impact of cigarette smoke on cancerous cells in the mouth. They used cancer cell lines in order to make the effects easier to observe.
But the scientists believe the chemical changes they witnessed can trigger cancer, as well as accelerate it.
The study revealed that the longer mouth cells were exposed to saliva contaminated by tobacco smoke, the more cells were damaged.
Dr Rafi Nagler, from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, in Tel Aviv, who co-led the study, said: "Most people will find it very shocking that the mixture of saliva and smoke is actually more lethal to cells in the mouth than cigarette smoke alone.
"Our study shows that once exposed to cigarette smoke, our normally healthy saliva not only loses its beneficial qualities but it turns traitor and actually aids in destroying the cells of the mouth and oral cavity.
"Cigarette smoke is not only damaging on its own, it can turn the body against itself." Saliva contains natural antioxidants, molecules that neutralise harmful free radicals - unstable groups of atoms capable of damaging DNA and triggering cancer.
The researchers found that cigarette smoke not only destroyed the antioxidants, but created a potentially deadly free radical cocktail.
The findings reported in the British Journal of Cancer were published a day after World Tobacco Day, May 31.
Dr Lesley Walker, director of cancer information at Cancer Research UK, which owns the journal, said: "I'm afraid this is more bad news for smokers. Clearly if you're generating highly active free radicals and knocking out antioxidants, then you're going to generate a carcinogenic environment which will give rise to cancer."
Jean King, director of tobacco control at the charity, said: "Once more we see the dreadful impact smoking can have on health. This insight into how mouth cancer can develop offers more reasons for smokers to try to quit.
"People know of the link with lung cancer, and this research adds compelling evidence about the damage smoking can do to the mouth."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/li...in_page_id=1797
Smoking makes saliva potentially lethal
this makes me rethink my smoking habit from another angle........
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