一项科学家研究发现，吸烟会导致基因突变。每天吸烟20支的人，每年每个肺细胞累积平均有150个基因突变。这些突变是永久且持续的，即使吸烟者戒烟也不可逆。
Smoking leaves an "archaeological record" of the hundreds of DNA mutations it causes, scientists have discovered.
Having sequenced thousands of tumour genomes, they found a 20-a-day smoker would rack up an average of 150 mutations in every lung cell each year.
The changes are permanent, and persist even if someone gives up smoking.
Researchers say analysing tumour DNA may help explain the underlying causes of other cancers.
The study, in the journal Science, was carried out by an international group, including the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridgeshire and the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
The analysis shows a direct link between the number of cigarettes smoked in a lifetime and the number of mutations in tumour DNA.
150 mutations in each lung cell every year
97 in the larynx or voice box
23 in the mouth
18 in the bladder
six in the liver
Joint lead author Prof Sir Mike Stratton, from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, said: "The more mutations there are, the higher the chance that these will occur in the key genes that we call cancer genes, which convert a normal cell into a cancer cell."
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