05/03/2008 00:00:00
New Zealand: Cannabis Doesn't Cause Head cancer - Study
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Smoking cannabis does not appear to increase the user's risk of head and
neck cancers, according to a new study by New Zealand and British
researchers.
The small study found that found that among 75 cases of head and neck
cancer, the relative risk of smoking cannabis and contracting head and
neck cancer in marijuana users was the same (1.0) as in those who had
never smoked cannabis.
There were 319 patients used as "controls" to compare the risks.
There were greater relative risks of contracting the cancers among
tobacco smokers (2.1) and heavy drinkers of alcohol (5.7), compared with
patients who had abstained from those activities.
But the New Zealand researchers at the Medical Research Institute and
Otago University recommended repeating the study with larger numbers of
subjects.
Their study was reported this week in the March 2008 issue of the
Otolaryngology journal on head and neck surgery.
Cancers of the head and neck, with more than 500,000 new cases diagnosed
each year worldwide, represent the fourth-most common type of cancer.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10496339
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=13327
Author:
New Zealand Herald via UKCIA
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