時尚雙語:吸菸有害健康
[1]Before Dr. Luther L. Terry, then the Surgeon General of the United States, issued his office's 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 reports--which purported to show links between smoking and cancer and other serious diseases--with denials and competing studies.
[3] So in 1964, Terry and his Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health knew they were stepping into a major pit of controversy when they announced "cigarette smoking is a health hazard of sufficient importance in the United States to warrant appropriate remedial action".
[4] It was America's first widely publicized acknowledgment that smoking cigarettes is a cause of serious diseases.
[5] But the issue wasn't settled in 1964, nor is it settled in 1997, despite literally thousands more studies--and litigation that has forced at least one tobacco company to admit what some activists say they knew all along: cigarette smoke is hazardous to your health.
[6] More than 30 years--and more than 20 Surgeon General reports--later, the issue appears headed for settlement in the courtroom rather than the laboratory.
30多年前，在當時美國的衛生局局長路德·L·特里博士發表他上任以來的第一份“有關吸菸與健康的報告”之前，已經有成千上萬篇關於吸菸對人體健康影響的文章發表了。
[2]菸草公司對這些旨在表明吸菸和癌症以及其他疾病之間有關係的報告採取抵制的態度——予以否認，並提出分庭抗禮的研究報告。
[3]所以，在1964年，特里和他的吸菸與健康諮詢委員會就明白了，在他們宣佈“吸菸危害健康，在美國應引起人們足夠的重視，有必要採取適當的補救措施”時，他們就踏人了一個爭論的大坑中了。
[4]那是美國第一次廣泛宣傳，承認吸菸會導致嚴重的疾病。
[5]但是這個問題在1964年沒有得到解決，在1997年還是沒有解決，儘管確實又進行了數千項研究——且提起的訴訟已迫使至少一家菸草公司承認一些禁菸活動積極分子的說法，其實也是他們一直都明白的：吸菸對人體有危害。
[6]30多年以來，有20多位衛生局局長提出報告，此後，這個問題似乎是走向法庭解決，而不是在實驗室解決。
So what are the risks? Here's what tobacco's critics say:
CANCER
[7] The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says cigarette smoking is responsible for 151,322 cancer deaths annually in the United States. Most of those--116,920--are from lung cancer. The CDC says men who smoke are 22 times more likely to die from lung cancer than non-smokers. Women who smoke are 12 times more likely to die from the disease.
[8] Statistical studies have long shown that people who don't smoke live longer than people who do and scientists have seen statistically the correlation 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 pinpointed specific carcinogens in cigarette smoke that target parts of a gene already known to be prominent in some cancers.
[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 affected by cigarette smoke. An American Cancer Society researcher reported earlier this year that smoking increased men's risk of dying of prostate cancer, while other studies have linked tobacco use to increased risk of other cancers, including throat, breast and bowel cancer.
那麼吸菸究竟有什麼危害呢?還是聽聽菸草批評家們的說法：
癌症
[7]疾病防治中心說，吸菸是導致美國每年151322位癌症患者死亡的罪魁禍首。這些死亡者中的大多數——116990人是死於肺癌。疾病防治中心認爲，男性菸民死於肺癌的可能性是非吸菸者的22倍。女性菸民死於肺癌的可能性是非吸菸者的12倍。
[8]統計數據研究早就表明，不吸菸的人比菸民長壽，而且自20世紀50年代以來，科學家們通過統計資料，已經發現了吸菸和肺癌發病率之間的相互關係。
[9]而今年早些時候，貝克曼研究所的格爾德·普法伊費爾所作的一項研究確切地指出了捲菸煙霧中固有的致癌物，這些致癌物襲擊的目標是一種基因的某些部分，人們已經發現，這種基因在一些癌症中很突出。[10]普法伊費爾在《科學》雜誌上寫道，吸菸使p53基因發生改變，這種基因在正常情況下起着防癌的作用，但在發生突變時，就會加快癌症的發展。
[11]美國癌症協會發表的另一份研究報告說，尼古丁含量低的捲菸並不能減少患癌症的可能性，它們實際上是引起一種進入到肺組織深層的癌症的罪魁禍首。
[12]而其他的癌症也受吸菸的影響。今年年初，美國癌症協會的一份研究報告表明，吸菸使男性死於前列腺癌的危險增加了，而其他的一些研究把吸菸同患上其他癌症(包括喉癌、乳腺癌和結腸癌)的危險的增加聯繫到了一起。
CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES
[13] Smoking also has been linked time and again to cardiovascular diseases. Among these, the biggest killer is heart disease: according to the CDC, smoking triples the risk of dying from heart disease among middle-aged 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 pneumonia, chronic bronchitis, or emphysema. The CDC says people who smoke increase their risk of death from bronchitis and emphysema 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 diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) by more than three times.
[17] Studies have pointed to smoking as a risk in vision loss among older people, mental impairment later in life, Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.
EFFECT ON PREGNANCY
[18] Pregnant women who smoke can pass nicotine and carbon monoxide to their baby through the placenta. Research indicates this can prevent the baby from getting the oxygen and nutrients it needs to grow--potentially leading to fetal injury, premature 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]吸菸還被一再地和心血管疾病聯繫在一起，其中最大的殺手是心臟病。根據疾病防治中心的說法，吸菸使中年男女菸民死於心臟病的危險增至3倍。
[14]研究還表明，死於中風、動脈瘤、高血壓和其他心血管疾病的危險也有所增加。
呼吸系統疾病
[15]吸菸被引證爲導致死於肺炎、慢性氣管炎或肺氣腫的一種隱患。疾病防治中心說，吸菸的人死於支氣管炎和肺氣腫的危險比不吸菸的人高出將近10倍。
其他疾病
[16]美國《流行病學雜誌》最近發表的一份報告表明，吸菸使人們患非胰島素依賴型糖尿病的危險增加了3倍多。
[17]研究指出，吸菸有導致老年人中的失明、晚年大腦損傷、早老性癡呆病和其他類型的癡呆病的危險。吸菸對妊娠的影響
[18]抽菸的懷孕女性會通過胎盤把尼古丁和一氧化碳傳給胎兒。研究表明，這會妨礙胎兒獲得發育所需要的氧氣和營養物質，這可能對胎兒造成傷害，引起早產或胎兒體重不足。根據美國肺器官協會的說法，估計有20％至30％的體重不足的嬰兒，多達14％的早產以及約10％的嬰兒死亡都是由於女性在孕期吸菸引起的。吸菸的母親還有可能通過餵母乳把尼古丁傳給嬰兒。
SECONDHAND SMOKE
[19] The studies didn't just point to the ill effects of smoking on those who smoke--non-smokers, too, are apparently 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 you've never put a cigarette to your lips.
[21] The American Heart Association last fall released a seven-year study showing that never-smoking spouses 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 impetus to the drive to make workplaces and other public areas smoke-free.
[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] Hanet's study cautioned that cigarette smoke was more detrimental 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 DNA damage.
被動吸菸
[19)研究不光指出了吸菸給菸民自己造成的危害，還指出了非吸菸者顯然也會受到他們吸菸的朋友、家人或在他們面前吸菸的陌生人的傷害。
[20]持續不斷的報告通過統計數字證明，即使你從來就沒有吸過煙，也有患癌症或心臟病的危險。
[21]去年秋季，美國心臟協會發表丁一份歷時7年的研究報告，該報告指出，菸民的配偶雖然從不吸菸，但是和那些與非吸菸者生活的配偶相比，他們死於冠心病的危險要高出20％。這項調查進一步推動了在工作場所和公共場所禁菸活動的開展。
[22]調查還表明，菸民的孩子也深受吸菸之害。今年年初，比利時布魯塞爾聖·盧卡大學醫院的克勞德·哈內特博士說，吸菸的母親生下的孩於"應被看作是有吸菸史的人"。
[23]哈內特的研究提請人們注意：年齡越小，吸菸的危害越大。
[24]《英國癌症雜誌》發表的一份英格蘭伯明翰大學的報告顯示，吸菸的父親與其孩子患癌症比率的增加可能有聯繫；同時美國的研究則顯示吸菸和脫氧核糖核酸受損可能有關係。
SECONDHAND SMOKE
ADDICTION
[25] Of all the diseases associated with smoking, addiction is perhaps the one that receives the least attention. But President Clinton declared nicotine an addictive drug last August. In March, the Liggett Group, makers of Chesterfield and Lark 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 fully aware that the product they were selling is addictive, that the product they were selling had great impact on public health".
[27] Other tobacco companies are clearly none too keen on the Liggett deal. For them, nicotine remains what they call a harmless flavor enhancement.
煙癮
[25]在所有和吸菸有關的疾病中，也許人們最容易忽略的就是吸菸上癮。然而，去年8月，克林頓總統宣佈尼古丁爲使人上癮的麻醉藥物。今年(指2000--編者注)3月，生產切斯特菲爾德和雲雀牌香菸的利格特集團承認吸菸使人上癮並會引發癌症，並且同意向22個州支付總額爲7．5億美元的賠償金，這22個州提起了訴訟，要求菸草公司向治療與吸菸有關的疾病的醫療補助制度進行賠償。
[26]馬薩諸塞州首席檢察官、全美首席檢察官協會會長斯哥特·哈什伯傑對記者說，對利格特集團的處理"將帶來這樣一個信息，那就是，大煙草公司充分意識到了他們出售的產品會使人上癮，他們出售的產品對大衆的健康影響極大"。
[27]很顯然，其他菸草公司中沒有一家對利格特集團的處理感興趣。對他們來說，尼古丁仍然是他們所稱的無害的提味劑。
