Cigarettes are more than rolled up tobacco leaves. They are brilliantly designed nicotine delivery systems. Nicotine is the very addictive drug found in tobacco.
Manufacturers add substances to tobacco, tobacco paper and filters to:
- make it easier to inhale the harsh smoke
- improve flavor
- regulate the amount of nicotine received with each drag
- increase the body’s ability to absorb nicotine
- speed nicotine addiction and dependence
When a cigarette is lit, over 4,000 chemicals are released in tobacco smoke – 60 are known to cause cancer. These chemicals and gasses are breathed in by the cigarette smoker and by people exposed to their smoke. It is these chemicals, not nicotine, that kill more than half of the people who smoke on a regular basis. (The Tobacco Atlas, Second Edition, American Cancer Society).
Below are some ingredients found in tobacco smoke that may surprise you.
- Acetone (nail polish remover)
- Ammonia (toilet bowl cleaner)
- Arsenic (poison)
- Butane (lighter fluid)
- Cadmium (rechargeable batteries)
- Carbon Monoxide (car exhaust)
- Formaldehyde (tissue preservative)
- Hydrogen Cyanide (gas chamber poison)
- Methane (swamp gas)
- Methanol (rocket fuel)
- Naphthalene (mothballs)
- Nicotine (insecticide)
- Toluene (Industrial solvent)