The myth of light cigarettes, busted by researchers. Once marketed as safer, these are linked to specific form of lung cancer
Did you think that if you change cigarettes with high levels of nicotine and tar with some light ones you will get rid of lung cancer? Well, researchers now believe that ”light” cigarettes, which were once marketed as safer, are behind a rise in a type of cancer that frequently occurs in deeper parts of the lungs.
Researchers announced on Monday that so-called “light” cigarettes with holes in the filter could be the reason why a specific kind of lung cancer has been on the rise in recent decades – adenocarcinoma – the most common form of lung cancer, which occurs deep in the lungs.
While in the past 50 years other kinds of lung cancer have declined along with diminishing numbers of smokers, cases of lung adenocarcinoma have climbed, Daily Mail reports.
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Scientists think that the higher rates of lung adenocarcinoma are caused by filter ventilation holes, “which allow smokers to inhale more smoke that also has higher levels of carcinogens, mutagens and other toxins,” said the report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
“The filter ventilation holes change how the tobacco is burned, producing more carcinogens, which then also allows the smoke to reach the deeper parts of the lung where adenocarcinomas more frequently occur,” said lead author Peter Shields, deputy director of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.
“Our data suggests a clear relationship between the addition of ventilation holes to cigarettes and increasing rates of lung adenocarcinoma seen over the past 20 years,” he said.
“What is especially concerning is that these holes are still added to virtually all cigarettes that are smoked today,” he added, calling on US regulators to ban the practice.
Cigarette filters with holes were introduced on the market some 50 years ago, manufacturers marketing them as “light” and claiming these were “low-tar.”
“This was done to fool smokers and the public health community into thinking that they actually were safer,” said Shields.
“These cigarettes have actually caused more harm,” the report also said.
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The research was based on an analysis of existing literature, including chemistry and toxicology studies, human clinical trials and epidemiological studies.
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