Cannabis smoke more harmful than tobacco smoke
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| Posted
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Wed, 19 Dec 2007 11:51:01 GMT |
| By
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Alan Cross |
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Researchers from Health Canada have found that cannabis smokers are at an increased risk than tobacco smokers because the former contains more toxic chemicals. Cannabis smoke contains 20 times the amount of ammonia found in tobacco, the research said. Ammonia is a known cancer causing substance or a carcinogen.
Cannabis smoke is also more harmful to lungs when compared to tobacco smoke because it contains five times the amount of nitrogen oxides found in the latter. Additional toxins with a high level in cannabis smoke included hydrogen cyanide, which is lethal for the heart.
Researchers from Health Canada also analyzed sidestream smoke in addition to using a smoking machine to assess the harmful effects of 20 chemicals in inhaled smoke. Sidestream smoke is the smoke that is spewed off from the burning tip of cigarettes and is thought to be implicated in 85 percent of passive smoking.
Only one chemical called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon was present in higher level in tobacco smoke, the Canadian government research wing said. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are known to cause infertility.
"The consumption of marijuana through smoking remains a reality and among the young seems to be increasing," said lead researcher David Moir. "The confirmation of the presence of known carcinogens and other chemical is important information for public health."
However the study showed that there was little or no difference in the concentrations of other dangerous chemicals like chromium, nickel, arsenic and selenium in cannabis as well as tobacco smoke.
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Is this reliable information?
By:
John McKenna, Ph.D. ,
Tue, 25 Dec 2007 20:40:39 GMT
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I would like to know who the authors of the study were, and the peer-reviewed journal this study was published in, so that I can assess the sientific merit of this study. There are far too many anonymous and unauthored "studies" being quoted in newspapers, which contradict findings of peer-reviewed papers. This can only be considered as hearsay (or propoganda) without author and publishing data included!
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contaminated specimens.
By:
topaztic ,
Thu, 20 Dec 2007 06:12:04 GMT
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the source for the material tested has a history of growing cannabis in contaminated areas.
http://www.safeaccess.ca/pr/csapr8.htm
Oct.1, 2003: Despite an independent test by Canadians for Safe Access (www.safeacess.ca) indicating elevated levels of heavy metals such as arsenic and lead [i] on the Health Canada cannabis being cultivated in an abandoned copper and zinc mine in Flin Flon Manitoba by Prairie Plant Systems (PPS), neither Health Canada nor PPS has acted to reassure Canadians that this product is indeed safe.
When repeated calls to PPS went unreturned, CSA conducted research to assess the possible cause of such heavy metal contamination. We were shocked to learn that due to the extensive mining and smelting that has taken place in the region over the last 80 years, Flin Flon is considered one of the most contaminated regions of Canada. According to Carol Ptacek, a researcher with Environment Canada's National Water Resource Institute, water near an abandoned mine located outside of Flin Flon Manitoba has some of the highest levels of metal contamination in Canada, if not the world. [ii]
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Cannabis is more harmful?
By:
Ryan Mickelson ,
Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:20:56 GMT
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If that is true, then why has no one ever died as a result of cannabis, yet 400,000 Americans die annually as a result of tobbaco?
This study is biased. Not only are the toxic additives of tobbaco cigarettes excluded, but the study was most likely done on marijuana leafs, meanwhile most/all cannabis users smoke the bud.
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more deception from the experts
By:
ohyeahsure ,
Wed, 19 Dec 2007 15:30:51 GMT
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most people dont use pure tobacco; cigarettes have a lot of additives. Marijuana has a lot of theraputic value which deserves to be mentioned.
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