A new study by Silent Spring Institute and University of California, Berkeley shows how California’s right-to-know law called Proposition 65 has prompted major retailers and manufacturers to remove toxic substances in their products in order to avoid having to warn people if their products could expose them to harmful amounts of a chemical that causes cancer, birth defects, or reproductive harm.

Cigarette smoke causes cancer primarily by damaging the DNA. A new study that mapped the DNA damages caused by smoking, reveals that the way our DNA is organized and chemically modified can influence how cigarette smoke damages it, how well the damage is repaired and how many mutations will form. Specifically, areas of DNA that are more open and active are more prone to damage but also better at repairing themselves, which helps to prevent mutations. However, in areas where repair is less efficient, damage can lead to mutations that may drive cancer development This research highlights how our DNA's environment shapes the risk of smoking-related lung cancer.