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Getting On : Party On
Cocaine and Ecstasy Cause DNA Mutation -Italy Study | from Jules - Saturday, December 06, 2003
accessed 2011 times Fri Dec 5, 3:49 PM ROME (Reuters) - Cocaine and ecstasy not only cause addiction and raise the risk of cancer but also provoke genetic mutations, Italian scientists said Friday.
"Cocaine and ecstasy have proved to be more dangerous than we had imagined," said Giorgio Bronzetti, chief scientist at the National Center for Research's (CNR) biotechnology department.
"These drugs, on top of their toxicological effects, attack DNA provoking mutations and altering the hereditary material. This is very worrying for the effects it could have on future generations," he said.
The use of ecstasy, a drug popular at all-night dance parties, increased by 70 percent between 1995 and 2000 according to a United Nations report published in September.
Ecstasy and amphetamines have overtaken cocaine and heroin as the fastest growing global narcotics menace, the study said.
The CNR report, which took more than three years to complete, said animal tests had shown a direct relationship between ecstasy and cocaine intake and the effects on DNA.
"In other words, the longer the time frame of drug consumption, the greater the damage to DNA," Bronzetti said.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20031205/sc_nm/health_cocaine_dna_dc_4 |
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Reader's comments on this article Add a new comment on this article |  from gerrard
Wednesday, April 23, 2008 - 12:39
(Agree/Disagree?)
I am not surprised to hear about this, there are many bad effects related to these drugs, we all know that. So I guess this is one more reason to beware.
http://brainbitsandbeats.blogspot.com/2008/04/who-knows.html
(reply to this comment)
| from Zoid
Monday, December 15, 2003 - 16:41
 (Agree/Disagree?)
I cannot find this study on google! I searched under Bronzetti, MDMA, cocaine, ecstasy, national center for research...nothing. If anyone can find a citation of the study or can point me to the journal it is in that would be very helpful. If the study hasn't been published yet then it is not valid peer reviewed research.
Firstly, even if this is the case, its not necessarily a big problem because a great many "ordinary" things cause DNA damage. Food, sunlight, oxygen, some medications, etc all cause DNA damage. It is impossible to avoid it. So to simply say that something causes DNA damage is pretty meaningless, its the amount of damage that is relevant. Just to give some perspective, its worth noting that every cell in your body receives an average of about 10,000 DNA damaging events every day just through "normal" living.
Furthermore, any of these mutagenic/carcinogenic materials that come in contact with adult gametes and/or their precursors will cause DNA damage that will be passed on to one's offspring if the damaged gamete gives rise to a successful conception. Don't be too worried by this notion either, everyone is conceived and born with a myriad of DNA mutations.
Finally, to answer the original poster's question, both my wife and myself have used in the past. I have a 16 month old son, and he is perfectly healthy, in addition to which, he has reached nearly all developmental milestones considerably quicker than I did (and I was an average to fast developer).
This reminds me of the "LSD causing chromosome damage" fiasco back in the later 60s. Even though the research was later denounced as totally devoid of proper scientific testing methods, the study is still widely quoted.
I would be very interested in seeing the genetic profile of the control group, and whether or not the scientific process was improved from the flawed experiments conducted w/ LSD. Hopefully NK or myself can find the URL to this study once it is published....
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