一支菸足以引發心臟病

Think the odd cigarette won't hurt? Just smoking one is enough to block your arteries and trigger a heart attack, America's chief medical adviser has warned.
　　覺得偶爾吸支菸不會有傷害？只要一支就足以堵塞你的動脈，引發心臟病，這是美國首席醫療顧問發出的警告。

Tobacco smoke causes 'immediate damage', with each puff circulating hundreds of toxic chemicals to most of your organs.

菸草產生的煙霧會導致“即刻的損傷”，因爲每一次呼氣都會將上百個有毒的化學成分散佈到你的器官。

The 700-page Surgeon General's report found there was no safe level of exposure to cigarette smoke - whether you deliberately inhale or breathe it in second hand.

在首席外科醫生700頁的報告中顯示，不管你是否謹慎小心地吸入或呼出二手菸，只要你周圍有菸草的煙霧，你就不可能不受傷害。

'That one puff on that cigarette could be the one that causes your heart attack,' said Surgeon General Regina Benjamin.

“吸一口煙就有可能是你心臟病發的誘因”，首席外科醫生Regina Benjamin說。

This is because smoke immediately seeps into the bloodstream and changes its chemistry so that it becomes more sticky, allowing clots to form that can squeeze shut already narrowed arteries.

這是因爲煙立刻就能深入血液，改變其化學成分變得更加濃稠，形成血塊堵住已經很窄的動脈。

This is in addition to the more subtle long-term damage to blood vessels themselves, making them more narrow. And no one knows how little it takes to trigger that clotting.

除了血管長期的細微損壞以外，這是另一種令它們更加狹窄的原因。而且沒人知道多小的原因就能導致血液結塊。

Dr Terry Pechacek of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this meant smoking a cigarette at a party could be enough to trigger a heart attack in someone whose arteries are silently clogged.

美國疾病控制與預防中心的Terry Pechacek博士說，這意味着在派對上吸入一支菸就足以引發一個動脈悄然結塊的人心臟病發。

'Too often people think the occasional social cigarette is not so dangerous, when in fact this report says yes, it is,' he said.

“人們常常認爲偶爾在社交場合吸菸並不太危險，但實際上這份報告給出了否定的答案，它的確很危險。”他說。

The report also found even brief exposure to second-hand smoke 'could trigger acute cardiac events such as heart attack.'

這份報告也指出，即使短暫吸入二手菸也可能引發嚴重的心臟疾病，諸如急性心臟病發。It noted that when Pueblo, Colorado, banned smoking in all public places in 2003, the number of people hospitalized for heart disease plummeted 41 per cent in just three years.

自從在科羅拉多州的普韋布洛市禁止在公共場所吸菸後，短短的3年間，因爲心臟病就醫的人數就驟然下降了41%。

'I advise people to try to avoid being around smoking any way that you can,' Dr Benjamin said.

“我建議人們儘可能避免任何形式的吸菸”，Benjamin大夫說。

The report also includes the latest genetic findings to help explain why some people become more addicted and develop associated diseases quicker than others.

這份報告還包括了最新的基因研究結果，解釋了爲什麼一些人上癮和比其他人更快患上一些相關的疾病。

It outlines the design and contents of current tobacco products, which make them more attractive and addictive than ever before.

這是因爲目前菸草產品的設計和成分比以前更誘人，更容易產生依賴。

'Today’s cigarettes deliver nicotine more quickly and efficiently than cigarettes of many years ago,' the report said.

報告顯示，“相較之前，現在的煙釋放尼古丁更快速，也更有效”。

Nicotine expert Dr K Michael Cummings of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, who reviewed the report, said: 'How many reports more does Congress need to have to say that cigarettes as a class of products ought to be banned?

Roswell Park癌症研究所的K Michael Cummings博士，同時他也是研究尼古丁的專家，說：“多少次國會不得不討論菸草作爲一種產品是應該被禁止的？”

'One-third of the patients who are in our hospital are here today because of cigarettes.'

“今天在我們醫院1/3的病人是因爲吸菸。”

Smoking kills around 106,000 people each year - which is the equivalent of one in five deaths in the UK.

每年有10萬6千人因爲吸菸死亡，在英國這相當於五個死亡的人中就有一個是因爲吸菸。

It causes many other harmful effects throughout the body, making it harder for diabetics to control their blood sugar or for women to conceive a baby.

這也導致了整個身體許多其他的不良影響，糖尿病人會更難控制血糖，或是女人更難懷孕。

Pregnant smokers are more likely to have a miscarriage or premature baby, while after birth children are more likely to die from sudden infant death syndrome.

懷孕的吸菸者更可能流產或是令孩子早產，而在出生後，孩子更可能死於嬰兒猝死綜合症。

It costs the NHS ?5billion a year to treat smoking related diseases such as lung cancer and heart disease.

英國國家醫療服務系統（NHS）也因此每年要花費50億歐元治療與吸菸有關的疾病，比如肺癌和心臟病。

On a positive note stopping smoking at any point in life will boost your health.

樂觀的方面是在生命中任何時候停止吸菸都將改善你的健康。

Dr Benjamin said: 'It's never too late to quit but the sooner you quit the better. Even if you're 70, 80 years old and you're a smoker, there's still benefit from quitting.'

Benjamin大夫說：“戒菸永遠都不晚，而且越早戒菸越好。就算你是七、八十歲的吸菸者，戒菸仍然是有益的。”