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  Date / Time: 2/16/2009 4:35 PM UTC

  Marijuana Linked to Testicular Cancer
  

   
  By Ned Wicker
   
  Smoking cigarettes has been linked to lung cancer, but did you know that smoking marijuana has been linked to testicular cancer?  While doing my Monday morning surf, I came across a Reuters article by Jeremy Laurance, featured on The Independent Health and Wellbeing website in the UK.  The article states that scientists have determined that smoking cannabis (marijuana, hashish) can more than double the risk of testicular cancer.  It says tar in spiffs have 50 percent more carcinogens than cigarettes.  
  
  People in the OK and other Western countries have more of less disregarded any warnings about marijuana over the years, and even some parents here in the United States have considered smoking pot to be harmless.  But the article talks about a soaring rate of testicular cancer in the UK, linked to increased popularity of the drug, despite it being illegal.. What’s even more frightening is that researchers in this country have determined that there is a 70 percent greater risk of testicular cancer among men who smoke regularly.  
  
  The article sites a study of 369 men with testicular cancer who shared their history of marijuana use.  Smokers had twice the risk of those who had never used the drug. You might say that cancer is genetic, or that some other cause is to blame, but the study stated, “Cannabis was linked with testicular cancer independently of smoking, drinking and family history.”  Moreover, the strain of the cancer, non-serminona , is particularly associated with marijuana users, it says, and strokes younger men. It the type found in 40 percent of the incidents of testicular cancer. 
  
  You get the idea about the cancer risks, but still Americans in general seem to view marijuana as a kind of benign agent, a harmless alternative to other illegal drugs.  This attitude is particularly troubling because it allows us to let down our guard and ignore the warning signs. If you are a marijuana user you might want to consider getting checked out by a doctor, as this seemingly “hidden” risk is now in the open. There are, of course, other health risk factors involved with smoking marijuana that are well documented.  The drug is not harmless, and therefore any use has its possible negative ramifications aside from the fact that it is illegal.
  
  Take heed.    
  • Tags:
  • drugs
  • addiction
  • marijuana
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