What's in your cigarette? - WMBB News 13 - The Panhandle's News Leader

By Eric Leins

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It's common knowledge that cigarette smoke is bad for you. But it may be even more toxic than you realize. Here are some facts you need to take down before you light up:

• Cigarette smoke contains more than 4,800 chemical compounds, including 69 that are known to cause cancer. Many other toxic agents are also in cigarettes, some of which are made during the smoking process itself.
• A lighted cigarette generates more than 150 billion tar particles per cubic inch, making up the visible portion of cigarette smoke.
• According to chemists at R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, cigarette smoke is 10,000 times more concentrated than the automobile pollution at rush hour on a freeway.
• Visible smoke contributes only 5 percent to 8 percent toward the total output of a cigarette. What you can't see are the so-called vapors or gases in the cigarette smoke. Nitrogen and oxygen are two harmless ones, but here are just a few that aren't:
  • Carbon monoxide. Reduces your blood's ability to carry oxygen.
  • Formaldehyde. Raises your risk of leukemia and brain cancer.
  • Acrolein. May damage the lungs and cause death when you breathe large amounts. Breathing lesser amounts may cause eye watering, burning of the nose and throat and a decreased breathing rate.
  • Hydrogen cyanide. May cause death within minutes at high amounts. Exposure to lower concentrations may produce eye irritation, headache, confusion, nausea and vomiting. In some cases, coma and death may follow.
  • Nitrogen oxide. Low levels can irritate your eyes, nose, throat and lungs, possibly causing you to cough and experience shortness of breath, tiredness and nausea. Exposure to low levels can also cause fluid buildup in the lungs one or two days after exposure. Breathing high levels of nitrogen oxide can cause rapid burning, spasms and swelling of tissues in the throat and upper respiratory tract, reduced oxygenation of body tissues, a buildup of fluid in your lungs, and death.

Besides this list of toxic gases, the list of cancer-causing chemicals (carcinogens) in cigarette smoke is also long and includes:

• Cyanide
• Benzene
• Formaldehyde
• Methanol
• Acetylene
• Ammonia

So if you ever feel that quitting smoking is a battle, just remember, it's actually chemical warfare.

SOURCES:

• American Lung Association. General smoking facts. Accessed: 07/15/2010
• American Lung Association. What's in a cigarette? Accessed: 07/15/2010
• American Cancer Society. What in cigarette smoke is harmful? Accessed: 07/15/2010
• Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry. A-Z index. Accessed: 07/15/2010

View the original What's in your cigarette? article on myOptumHealth.com