HARMFUL CHEMICALS IN CIGARETTES

                  HARMFUL CHEMICALS IN CIGARETTES
       As smokers, we try not to think about the chemicals in cigarettes.
Instead, we think about how cigarettes help us cope with the stress of daily life, how they calm us down when we're angry, help us relax at the end of a long day, comfort us when we're sad or lonely. Harmful chemicals in cigarettes? No, we do our best to avoid thinking about that.
The truth of the matter is that smoking does the opposite of just about everything we give it credit for.
While researchers are still working to uncover all of the hazards cigarettes present to human life, we do know that air tainted with cigarette smoke is dangerous for anyone who breathes it, smoker or not.When the chemicals in cigarettes are inhaled, they put our bodies into a state of physical stress by sending literally thousands of poisons, toxic metals and carcinogens coursing through our bloodstream with every puff we take. And those chemicals affect everything from blood pressure and pulse rate to the health of our organs and immune system.
Let's take a closer look at some of the harmful chemicals in cigarettes and how they affect our health.
Chemicals in Cigarettes: Carcinogens
A carcinogen is defined as any substance that can cause or aggravate cancer. Approximately 70 of the chemicals in cigarettes are known to cause cancer.                                                                    Benzene can be found in pesticides and gasoline. It is present in high levels in cigarette smoke and accounts for half of all human exposure to this hazardous chemical.
Formaldehyde is a chemical used to preserve dead bodies, and is responsible for some of the nose, throat and eye irritation smokers experience when breathing in cigarette smoke.
Tobacco-specific N-nitrosamines (TSNAs) are known to be some of the most potent carcinogens present in smokeless tobacco, snuff and tobacco smoke.
Vinyl Chloride is a man-made chemical that is used in making plastics and is in cigarette filters.
Commonly used in rat poison, arsenic finds its way into cigarette smoke through some of the pesticides that are used in tobacco farming.
Cadmium is a toxic heavy metal that is used in batteries. Smokers typically have twice as much cadmium in their bodies as nonsmokers.
Lead-210 (Pb-210) and polonium-210 (Po-210) are poisonous, radioactive heavy metals that research has shown to be present in cigarette smoke. Ammonia compounds are commonly used in cleaning products and fertilizers. Ammonia is also used to boost the impact of nicotine in manufactured cigarettes.
Carbon monoxide is present in car exhaust and is lethal in very large amounts. Cigarette smoke can contain high levels of carbon monoxide.
Hydrogen cyanide was used to kill people in the gas chambers in Nazi Germany during World War II. It can be found in cigarette smoke.
Nicotine is a poison used in pesticides and is the addictive element in cigarettes.A Word About Secondhand SmokeIf you smoke......use the tools below to help you get started on your smoke-free journey. There is no time like the present to stop the madness that cigarette smoking is. You'll be rewarded with benefits beyond what you can probably imagine and they'll start to occur faster than you think.                                                                                         Tobacco smoke contains harmful chemicals. These chemicals are responsible for many health problems in Veterans and those who breathe in secondhand smoke.Learn more about harmful ingredients in tobacco from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Nicotine is the addictive chemical in tobacco. While nicotine itself does not cause cancer, the body can become addicted to it, causing physical cravings.                                          Increased risk of cancer                                                    Tobacco use increases your risk of many types of cancer. While many people associate tobacco use with lung cancer, this is just one type of cancer it causes. Tobacco use and exposure to cigarette smoke can also result in:
  • Pancreatic cancer
  • Cancers in the throat region, mouth, voice box, and esophagus
  • Kidney cancer
  • Stomach cancer
  • Cancers of the blood, like acute myeloid leukemia
  • Bladder cancer
Tobacco worsens other health conditions
  • Smoking can make mental health conditions worse. Learn how smoking affects your mental health.
  • If you have HIV and use tobacco, tobacco can make your HIV worse.                                                          Smoking worsens your health 
  • For some people, smoking and drinking alcohol go together. In fact, approximately 70% of people with a substance addiction use tobacco products. This trend is seen among both Veterans and the general public.
Pesticides are used on our lawns and gardens, and inhaled into our lungs via cigarette smoke.
Chemicals in Cigarettes: Toxic Metals
Toxic / heavy metals are metals and metal compounds that have the potential to harm our health when absorbed or inhaled. In very small amounts, some of these metals support life, but when taken in large amounts, can become toxic.
Chemicals in Cigarettes: Radioactive Toxic Metals
There are a couple of toxic metals in cigarette smoke that carry an extra punch of danger for anyone breathing it in: they are radioactive.
Chemicals in Cigarettes: Poisons
Poison is defined as any substance that, when introduced to a living organism, causes severe physical distress or death. Science has discovered approximately 250 poisonous gases in cigarette smoke.
Also known as environmental tobacco smoke, secondhand smoke is a term used to describe cigarette smoke that comes from two sources: Smoke that is exhaled by the smoker (mainstream smoke) and smoke produced by a smouldering cigarette (sidestream smoke).
Secondhand smoke is known to contain at least 250 toxic chemicals, including 50 cancer-causing chemicals. According to the U.S. Surgeon General, there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke. That means if you can smell cigarette smoke in the air, it could be harming your health.
Women who smoke have almost 18 times the risk of dying of lung cancer compared to women who don't smoke. Learn more about women and smoking.Smoking is a greater risk to your health than using drugs or alcohol. Health effects caused by smoking, like heart disease and lung cancer, are more likely to cause death than drug or alcohol abuse.The benefits of quitting are immediate to you and those around you. Find out how your life will be better when you quit tobacco. In the past, some addiction counselors and providers were mistakenly taught that encouraging patients to smoke would help them overcome their other addictions.The opposite is true—scientific studies have shown that quitting smoking will increase the chance that you can also successfully stop abusing alcohol and other drugs. People who quit smoking in recovery are less likely to relapse to alcohol or other drug use.


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