What is in tobacco?
Cigarettes, cigars, and spit and pipe tobacco are made from dried tobacco leaves, as well as ingredients added for flavor and other reasons. More than 4,000 different chemicals have been found in tobacco and tobacco smoke. Among these are more than 60 chemicals that are known to cause cancer (carcinogens).
Many substances are added to cigarettes by manufacturers to enhance the flavor or to make smoking more pleasant. Some of the compounds found in tobacco smoke include ammonia, tar, and carbon monoxide. Exactly what effects these substances have on the cigarette smoker's health is unknown, but there is no evidence that lowering the tar content of a cigarette lowers the health risk.
As of now, cigarette manufacturers are not required to give out information to the public about the additives used in cigarettes, which has made it harder to determine their possible health risks. But with the passage of a new federal law, manufacturers must submit lists of ingredients to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) starting in 2010. The FDA will make lists of harmful ingredients available to the public by or before June 2013.
Nicotine addiction
Addiction is marked by the repeated, compulsive seeking or use of a substance despite its harmful effects and unwanted consequences. Addiction is defined as mental and emotional dependence on the substance. Nicotine is the addictive drug in tobacco. Regular use of tobacco products leads to addiction in many users.
In 1988, the US Surgeon General concluded the following:
Cigarettes and other forms of tobacco are addicting.
Nicotine is the addicting drug in tobacco.
The ways people become addicted to tobacco are much like those that lead to addiction to other drugs such as heroin and cocaine.
These statements are as true today as they were then. All forms of tobacco have a lot of nicotine. It is easily absorbed through the lungs with smoking and through the mouth or nose with oral tobacco (spit, snuff, or smokeless tobacco). From these entry points, nicotine quickly spreads throughout the body.
Tobacco companies are required by law to report nicotine levels in cigarettes to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). But in most states they are not required to show the amount of nicotine on the cigarette package label. The actual amount of nicotine available to the smoker in a given brand of cigarettes is often different from the level reported to the FTC. In one regular cigarette, the average amount of nicotine the smoker gets ranges between about 1 mg and 2 mg. But the cigarette itself contains more nicotine than this. The amount people actually take in depends on how they smoke, how many puffs they take, how deeply they inhale, and other factors.
How powerful is nicotine addiction?
About 70% of smokers say they want to quit and about 40% try to quit each year, but only 4% to 7% succeed without help. This is because smokers not only become physically dependent on nicotine; there is a strong emotional (psychological) dependence. This is what leads to relapse after quitting. The smoker may link smoking with social and many other activities. Smokers also may use cigarettes to help manage unpleasant feelings and emotions, which can become a problem for some smokers when they try to quit. All of these factors make smoking a hard habit to break.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Friday, March 11, 2011
Harmful Effects Of Smoking
CONSEQUENCES OF SMOKING
Harmful Effects of Tobacco Smoking on Health
Recent statistics show that about 5 million people -which is 1 in 10 adults - die each year due to smoking: mostly from heart, lung and respiratory diseases, and cancers.
Smoking is bad for one’s health. This statement cannot be overemphasized. However, there are about 1.3 billion people still smoking today, with a rising number in developing countries.
Why should one stop smoking?
Tobacco smoke has more than 4,000 harmful chemicals, including at least 50 which have been proven to cause cancer. Among the most dangerous chemicals are :
- Nicotine – a stimulant which can alter the brain chemistry by interfering with the balance of neurotransmitters in the brain. It is highly addictive.
- Carbon monoxide – which decreases the oxygen-carrying capacity of the red blood cells.
- Formaldehyde and arsenic - which can cause cancer.
- Hydrogen cyanide – which prevents the body cells from using oxygen, and therefore particularly harmful to the heart and brain.
- Methanol and acetylene - which are poisonous.
Smoking produces tar, which is a mixture of these chemicals, that sticks to the lining of the lungs, destroying the lungs’ ability to remove mucus, germs and toxins that harm the lungs. This can lead to lung cancer, emphysema and chronic bronchitis. A small amount of tar is also carried in the bloodstream, that can lead to cancer of the cervix or cancer of the pancreas.
Smoking increases blood pressure and risk of blood clotting, and causes narrowing of blood vessels. This leads to cardiovascular disease, heart attack and stroke.
Smoking is responsible for at least 30% of cancer deaths.
Smoking can destroy a woman’s reproductive health; it can cause infertility in both men and women, and can cause impotence in men.
Smoking is related to various other diseases, such as: bone problems, peptic ulcer, eye disease, tooth and gum disease, thyroid disease and rheumatoid arthritis.
Smoking renders the medications taken for other diseases ineffective as it interacts with the drugs.
Smoking decreases life expectancy by 10 years.
Smoking hastens aging and wrinkling of skin. Smokers in their 40’s will show as much facial wrinkling as non-smokers in their 60’s.
Smoking is costly. As much as 10% of total household expenditure is spent on tobacco.
So STOP smoking cigarettes immediately. If you cannot stop then buy Electronic cigarettes now
Sunday, February 13, 2011
World of Cigarette
What is cigarette ?
A cigarette (French: "small cigar", from cigare + -ette) is a small roll of finely cut tobacco leaves wrapped in a cylinder of thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder; its smoke is inhaled from the other end, which is held in or to the mouth and in some cases a cigarette holder may be used as well. Most modern manufactured cigarettes are filtered and include reconstituted tobacco and other additives.[1]
The term cigarette, as commonly used, refers to a tobacco cigarette but can apply to similar devices containing other herbs, such as cannabis. A cigarette is distinguished from a cigar by its smaller size, use of processed leaf, and paper wrapping, which is normally white, though other colors are occasionally available. Cigars are typically composed entirely of whole-leaf tobacco.
A cigarette (French: "small cigar", from cigare + -ette) is a small roll of finely cut tobacco leaves wrapped in a cylinder of thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder; its smoke is inhaled from the other end, which is held in or to the mouth and in some cases a cigarette holder may be used as well. Most modern manufactured cigarettes are filtered and include reconstituted tobacco and other additives.[1]
The term cigarette, as commonly used, refers to a tobacco cigarette but can apply to similar devices containing other herbs, such as cannabis. A cigarette is distinguished from a cigar by its smaller size, use of processed leaf, and paper wrapping, which is normally white, though other colors are occasionally available. Cigars are typically composed entirely of whole-leaf tobacco.
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