What Are the Risks of Smoking [1]Before Dr. Luther L. Terry, then the Surgeon General of the United States, issued his offices first Report on Smoking and Health more than 30 years ago, thousands of articles had already been written on the effects of tobacco use on the human body.
[2] Tobacco companies had countered the reportswhich purported2 to show links between smoking and cancer and other serious diseaseswith denials and competing studies.
[3] So in 1964, Terry and his Advisory3 Committee on Smoking and Health knew they were stepping into a major pit of controversy4 when they announced cigarette smoking is a health hazard of sufficient importance in the United States to warrant appropriate remedial action.www.hope.net.cn/education/index.html
[4] It was Americas first widely publicized acknowledgment that smoking cigarettes is a cause of serious diseases.
[5] But the issue wasnt settled in 1964, nor is it settled in 1997, despite literally5 thousands more studiesand litigation that has forced at least one tobacco company to admit what some activists6 say they knew all along： cigarette smoke is hazardous7 to your health.
[6] More than 30 yearsand more than 20 Surgeon General reportslater, the issue appears headed for settlement in the courtroom rather than the laboratory.
30多年前，在当时美国的卫生局局长路德。L.特里博士发表他上任以来的第一份有关抽烟与健康的报告之前，已经有成千上万篇关于抽烟对人体健康影响的文章发表了。
[2]烟草公司对这类旨在表明抽烟和癌症与其他疾病之间有关系的报告采取抵制的态度予以不承认，并提出分庭抗礼的研究报告。
[3]所以，在1964年，特里和他的抽烟与健康咨询委员会就了解了，在他们宣布抽烟风险健康，在美国应引起大家足够的看重，有必要采取适合的弥补手段时，他们就踏人了一个争论的大坑中了。
[4]那是美国首次广泛宣传，承认抽烟会致使紧急的疾病。
[5]但这个问题在1964年没得到解决，在1997年还是没解决，尽管确实又进行了数千项研究且提起的诉讼已迫使至少一家烟草公司承认一些控烟活动积极分子的说法，其实也是他们一直都了解的：抽烟对人体有风险。
[6]30多年以来，有20多位卫生局局长提出报告，此后，这个问题好像是走向法庭解决，而不是在实验室解决。
So what are the risks？ Heres what tobaccosplay critics say：
CANCER
[7] The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says cigarette smoking is responsible for 151,322 cancer deaths annually8 in the United States. Most of those116,920are from lung cancer. The CDC says men who smoke are 22 times more likely to die from lung cancer than non-smokers9. Women who smoke are 12 times more likely to die from the disease.
[8] Statistical10 studies have long shown that people who dont smoke live longer than people who do and scientists have seen statistically11 the correlation12 between smoking and incidences of lung cancer since the 1950s.
[9] But a study earlier this year by Gerd Pfeifer of the Beckman Research Institute pinpointed13 specific carcinogens in cigarette smoke that target parts of a gene1 already known to be prominent in some cancers.www.hope.net.cn/information/index.html
[10] Pfeifer wrote in Science that cigarette smoke causes changes in the gene p53, which protects against cancer when normal but promotes cancer growth when mutated .
[11] Another study, published by the American Cancer Society, said that low-tar cigarettes offered no relief from the potential of cancer, and in fact were responsible for a type of cancer that reaches deeper into lung tissue.
[12] Other cancers are also affected15 by cigarette smoke. An American Cancer Society researcher reported earlier this year that smoking increased mens risk of dying of prostate cancer, while other studies have linked tobacco use to increased risk of other cancers, including throat, breast and bowel16 cancer.
那样抽烟到底有哪些风险呢？还是听听烟草批评家们的说法：
癌症
[7]疾病防治中心说，抽烟是致使美国每年151322位癌症病人死亡的罪魁祸首。这类死亡者中的大部分116990人是死于肺癌。疾病防治中心觉得，男士烟鬼死于肺癌的可能性是非抽烟者的22倍。女人烟鬼死于肺癌的可能性是非抽烟者的 12倍。
[8]统计数据研究早就表明，不抽烟的人比烟鬼长寿，而且自20世纪50年代以来，科学家们通过统计资料，已经发现了抽烟和肺癌发病率之间的相互关系。
[9]而今年早些时候，贝克曼研究所的格尔德。普法伊费尔所作的一项研究确切地指出了烟草烟雾中固有些致癌物，这类致癌物袭击的目的是一种基因的某些部分，大家已经发现，这种基因在一些癌症中非常突出。 [10]普法伊费尔在《科学》杂志上写道，抽烟使p53基因发生改变，这种基因在正常状况下起着防癌有哪些用途，但在发生突变时，就会加快癌症的进步。
[11]美国癌症协会发表的另一份研究报告说，尼古丁含量低的烟草并不可以降低患癌症的可能性，它们事实上是引起一种进入到肺组织深层的癌症的罪魁祸首。
[12]而其他的癌症也受抽烟的影响。年初，美国癌症协会的一份研究报告表明，抽烟使男士死于前列腺癌的危险增加了，而其他的一些研究把抽烟同患上其他癌症（包含喉癌、乳腺癌和结肠癌）的危险的增加联系到了一块。
CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES
[13] Smoking also has been linked time and again to cardiovascular diseases. Among these, the biggest killer17 is heart disease： according to the CDC, smoking triples the risk of dying from heart disease among middle-aged18 men and women.
[14] Studies also show an increased risk of death from stroke, aneurysms, high blood pressure, and other cardiovascular illnesses.
RESPIRATORY DISEASES
[15] Smoking is cited as a risk for dying of pneumonia19, chronic20 bronchitis, or emphy百度竞价推广a. The CDC says people who smoke increase their risk of death from bronchitis and emphy百度竞价推广a by nearly 10 times.
OTHER ILLNESSES
[16] A report recently published in the American Journal of Epidemiology suggested that smoking increased the risk of developing non-insulin-dependent diabetes21 mellitus （NIDDM） by more than three times.www.hope.net.cn/picture/index.html
[17] Studies have pointed14 to smoking as a risk in vision loss among older people, mental impairment later in life, Alzheimers disease and other forms of dementia.
EFFECT ON PREGNANCY22
[18] Pregnant women who smoke can pass nicotine23 and carbon monoxide to their baby through the placenta. Research indicates this can prevent the baby from getting the oxygen and nutrients24 it needs to growpotentially leading to fetal injury, premature25 birth, or low birth weight. According to the American Lung Association, smoking during pregnancy accounts for an estimated 20 to 30 percent of low birthweight babies, up to 14 percent of premature deliveries, and about 10 percent of all infant deaths.
心血管疾病
[13]抽烟还被一再地和心血管疾病联系在一块，其中最大的杀手是心脏病。依据疾病防治中心的说法，抽烟使中年男女烟鬼死于心脏病的危险增至3倍。
[14]研究还表明，死于中风、动脉瘤、高血压和其他心血管疾病的危险也有所增加。
呼吸系统疾病
[15]抽烟被引证为致使死于肺炎、慢性气管炎或肺气肿的一种隐患。疾病防治中心说，抽烟的人死于支气管炎和肺气肿的危险比不抽烟的人高出将近 10倍。
其他疾病
[16]美国《时尚病学杂志》近期发表的一份报告表明，抽烟使大家患非胰岛素依靠型糖尿病的危险增加了3倍多。
[17]研究指出，抽烟有致使老年人中的失明、晚年大脑损伤、早老性痴呆病和其他种类的痴呆病的危险。 抽烟对妊娠的影响
[18]吸烟的怀孕女人会通过胎盘把尼古丁和一氧化碳传给胎儿。研究表明，这会妨碍胎儿获得发育所需要的氧气和营养物质，这可能对胎儿导致伤害，引起早产或胎儿体重不足。依据美国肺器官协会的说法，估计有20％至30％的体重不足的婴儿，多达14％的早产与约 10％的婴儿死亡都是因为女人在孕期抽烟引起的。抽烟的妈妈还大概通过喂母乳把尼古丁传给婴儿。
SEConDHAND SMOKE
[19] The studies didnt just point to the ill effects of smoking on those who smokenon-smokers, too, are apparently26 affected by the smoke from their friends, family members and strangers who light up in their presence.
[20] A steady stream of reports documented the statistical risks of contracting cancer or suffering from heart disease, even if youve never put a cigarette to your lips.
[21] The American Heart Association last fall released a seven-year study showing that never-smoking spouses27 of smokers have more than a 20 percent greater chance of death from coronary heart disease than those who have never smoked who live with non-smokers. That study gave more impetus28 to the drive to make workplaces and other public areas smoke-free.www.hope.net.cn/graduate/index.html
[22] The effects of smoking are hard on the children of smokers as well, the studies say. Dr. Claude Hanet of the St. Luc University Hospital in Brussels, Belgium, said earlier this year that a baby born to a smoking mother should be considered an ex-smoker,
[23] Hanets study cautioned that cigarette smoke was more detrimental29 with decreasing age.
[24] And a University of Birmingham, England, study, published in the British Journal of Cancer showed a possible link between fathers who smoked and an increased incidence of cancels in their children, while studies in the U.S. showed a possible link between smoking and DNA30 damage.
被动抽烟
[19）研究不光指出了抽烟给烟鬼自己导致的害处，还指出了非抽烟者显然也会遭到他们抽烟的朋友、家人或在他们面前抽烟的陌生人的伤害。
[20]持续持续的报告通过统计数字证明，即便你从来就没吸过烟，也有患癌症或心脏病的危险。
[21]去年秋天，美国心脏协会发表丁一份历时7年的研究报告，该报告指出，烟鬼的配偶虽然从不抽烟，但和那些与非抽烟者生活的配偶相比，他们死于冠心病的危险要高出20％。这项调查进一步推进了在工作场合和公共场合控烟活动的拓展。
[22]调查还表明，烟鬼的孩子也深受抽烟之害。年初，比利时布鲁塞尔圣。卢卡大学医院的克劳德。哈内特博士说，抽烟的妈妈生下的孩于应被看作是有抽烟史的人.关于医学的英文方面可以参考医学习英语上有关文章。
[23]哈内特的研究提请大家注意：年龄越小，抽烟的害处越大。
[24]《英国癌症杂志》发表的一份英格兰伯明翰大学的报告显示，抽烟的爸爸与其孩子患癌症比率的增加可能有联系；同时美国的研究则显示抽烟和脱氧核糖核酸受损可能有关系。
SEConDHAND SMOKE
ADDICTION31
[25] Of all the diseases associated with smoking, addiction is perhaps the one that receives the least attention. But President Clinton declared nicotine an addictive32 drug last August. In March, the Liggett Group, makers33 of Chesterfield and Lark34 brand cigarettes, admitted that cigarettes were addictive and cause cancer and agreed to pay about $750 million total to 22 states that had filed suit to force tobacco companies to pay for Medicaid for smoking-related illnesses.
[26] Scott Harshbarger, the Massachusetts attorney general and president of the National Association of Attorneys General, told reporters that the Liggett deal will produce information that indicates major tobacco companies were fully35 aware that the product they were selling is addictive, that the product they were selling had great impact on public health.www.hope.net.cn/english/index.html
[27] Other tobacco companies are clearly none too keen on the Liggett deal. For them, nicotine remains36 what they call a harmless flavor enhancement.
烟瘾
[25]在所有和抽烟有关的疾病中，或许大家最易忽视的就是抽烟上瘾。然而，去年8月，克林顿总统宣布尼古丁为使人上瘾的麻醉药物。今年（指 2000编者注）3月，生产切斯特菲尔德和云雀牌烟的利格特集团承认抽烟使人上瘾并会引发癌症，并且赞同向22个州支付总额为7.5亿USD的赔偿金，这22个州提起了诉讼，需要烟草公司向治疗与抽烟有关的疾病的医疗补助规范进行赔偿。
[26]马萨诸塞州首席检察官、全美首席检察官协会会长斯哥特。哈什伯杰对记者说，对利格特集团的处置将带来如此一个信息，那就是，大烟草公司充分意识到了他们供应的商品会使人上瘾，他们供应的商品对大家的健康影响很大.
[27]非常显然，其他烟草公司中没一家对利格特集团的处置有兴趣。对他们来讲，尼古丁仍然是他们所称的无害的提味剂。
