Archive for June 3rd, 2009

Cigarettes Are Deadlier Than They Used to Be

It may be riskier for your lungs to smoke cigarettes today than it was a few decades ago, at least in the United States, according to new research that blames changes in cigarette design for fueling a certain type of lung cancer. Up to half of U.S. lung cancer cases may be due to those changes.

Smokers once tended to get a form of lung cancer called squamous cell carcinoma, which strikes cells in larger air tubes. Then doctors noticed a jump in adenocarcinoma, which grows in small air sacs far deeper in the lung.

Initial studies blamed the introduction of filtered, lower-tar cigarettes. When smokers switched, they began inhaling more deeply to get their nicotine jolt, pushing the smoke deeper than before.
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