The Most Harmful Chemicals In Cigarettes

Many smokers have a habit of saying that they want their ‘nicotine drags'. The ironic part about this phrase is that is highly misinformed. Most smokers hardly know that they are smoking up much more than just tobacco. There are many more harmful chemicals in cigarettes. Nicotine is just an eye-wash for the hundreds other fatal chemicals present in cigarettes.

We all know that the effects of smoking are not very healthy. And yet, every year there is an increase in the number of smokers. It seems that just nicotine is not enough inspiration for most smokers to quit. To fully understand the disastrous effects of smoking, they need to know about all the chemicals in cigarette.

Apart from tobacco, a cigarette is packed with many other ingredients. Most of these chemicals are otherwise considered as poisonous. For example, did you know that cigarettes contain formaldehyde? The most common use of formaldehyde otherwise is to preserve dead bodies. On an average, each cigarette contains more than 3000 harmful chemicals that are enough to kill you 5 times over.
Here is a headcount of all the poisonous chemicals present in cigarettes.

hemicals 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
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
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.

Pesticides
Pesticides are used on our lawns and gardens, and inhaled into our lungs via cigarette smoke.

TSNAs
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
Vinyl Chloride is a man-made chemical that is used in making plastics and is in cigarette filters.

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.

Arsenic
Commonly used in rat poison, arsenic finds its way into cigarette smoke through some of the pesticides that are used in tobacco farming.

Cadmium
Cadmium is a toxic heavy metal that is used in batteries. Smokers typically have twice as much cadmium in their bodies as nonsmokers.

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.

Radioactive Cigarette Smoke
Lead-210 (Pb-210) and polonium-210 (Po-210) are poisonous, radioactive heavy metals that research has shown to be present in cigarette smoke.

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.

Ammonia
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
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
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
Nicotine is a poison used in pesticides and is the addictive element in cigarettes.