Well, here in our “Research Department” we´ve not only uncovered the dangerous chemicals found in cigarettes, but we're finding out why they're even in there to begin with. Along with how those chemicals affect you.
It´s all just a bit nauseating. But feel free to have a look for yourself.
Toxins Found In Cigarettes
Filter
Cigarette casing
Most filter cigarettes have ventilation holes punched around the filter tip. However, smokers' fingers or lips often cover most of these holes as they puff, giving smokers higher doses of tar and nicotine.
Effect on Humans
These holes create a flexible dosing system that tricks addicted smokers into believing they are receiving lower or safer doses of tar and nicotine. But actually they are receiving more nicotine.
Nicotine
Additive in cigarettes
As simple as it looks, the cigarette is a highly engineered nicotine-delivery device. Most cigarettes for sale in the U.S. today contain 10 milligrams or more of nicotine. By inhaling smoke from a lit cigarette, the average smoker takes in one to two milligrams of vaporized nicotine per cigarette. It only takes a very small amount of nicotine to start an addiction. Research suggests that manufacturers would have to cut nicotine levels in a typical cigarette by 95 percent to lower its ability to addict.
Effect on Humans
Scientists have found that a smoked substance reaches the brain quicker than one that is swallowed, snorted, or even injected. A nicotine molecule inhaled in smoke will reach the brain within 10 seconds.
Paper wrapper
Cigarette casing
Cigarette paper is responsible for the rate at which a cigarette burns and the amount and density of the smoke it produces. The paper has a pattern of circles called "burn rings." The burn rings precisely control the speed that the cigarette burns, automatically slowing it when the smoker is not inhaling in order to lengthen the cigarette's life, and speeding it up as the smoker takes a drag to maximize smoke intake. Like tobacco, cigarette paper contains a host of chemicals, including titanium oxide, which accelerates and maintains burning so the cigarette does not go out and the smoke is delivered evenly with each puff.
Effect on Humans
Minimum exposure to some of the chemicals - like titanium dioxide - in cigarette paper causes health problems such as redness and swelling of the skin and eyes, coughing and sneezing. Menthol also decreases the cough reflex and covers the 'dry throat' feeling that smokers often experience.
Peppermint oil
Additive in menthol cigarettes
Peppermint oil is used to flavor menthol cigarettes. The menthol flavoring makes the smoke easier to inhale and hold longer in the lungs. It also helps mask the harsh flavor of tobacco. The added menthol produces a cooling sensation in the throat when the smoke is inhaled.
Effect on Humans
A recent study showed that people who smoke menthol cigarettes are less likely to try to quit and are less likely to be successful when they do try to quit. This study suggested that menthol smokers may improve their chances of quitting smoking if they switch to non-menthol cigarettes before trying to quit.
Ammonia
Additive in cigarettes
When tobacco researchers found that much of the nicotine in a cigarette wasn't released when burned, they began adding substances such as ammonia, a chemical often found in household cleaners, to tobacco to release more nicotine. Ammonia helps keep nicotine in its basic form, which is more quickly vaporized by the intense heat of the burning cigarette.
Effect on Humans
When mixed with tobacco, ammonia helps deposit nicotine directly onto lung tissue.
Chocolate
Additive in cigarettes
In the 1970s, the tobacco industry began developing cigarettes specifically targeted at teens and young adults. To make their cigarettes seem smoother, they added 'taste enhancers' such as chocolate to help overcome the initial disgusting taste that new smokers often experience.
Effect on Humans
Chocolate may not be harmful by itself, but when added to cigarettes, it makes second-hand smoke less irritating, but not less dangerous.
Acetaldehyde
Additive in cigarettes
Acetaldehyde is produced by the burning of sugars. Tobacco industry scientists suspected that acetaldehyde could enhance the addictive effects of nicotine. When they studied the behavioral effects of nicotine and acetaldehyde in rats, they discovered that the two drugs worked together to enhance the addictive nature of nicotine.
The main industrial uses of acetaldehyde include silvering of mirrors, leather tanning, fuel, glue, dyes, plastics and synthetic rubbers.
Effect on Humans
Even small amounts of acetaldehyde will irritate the eyes, skin and respiratory tract of humans and animals. Acetaldehyde also may increase the absorption of other hazardous chemicals in tobacco smoke into the bronchial tubes.
Levulinic Acid
Additive in cigarettes
Tobacco companies add levulinic acid to cover up the harshness of nicotine. This increases the impact of nicotine while keeping a low tar-to-nicotine ratio so tobacco companies can comply with federal regulations.
Effect on Humans
Levulinic acid makes the upper respiratory tract less sensitive to smoke. This increases the potential for cigarette smoke to be inhaled deeper into the lungs. Studies also show, levulinic acid may enhance the binding of nicotine to neurons that normally would be unresponsive to nicotine.
Tar
Collection of solid particles
Tar is a term that describes a collection of solid particles that smokers inhale when they light a cigarette. Because tar is listed as an ingredient on packs, it is easy to believe that it is the only harmful part of cigarettes. Actually some of the most dangerous chemicals in tobacco smoke are present as gases and are not counted as part of tar. This means that cigarettes with less tar still contain all the other toxic chemicals.
Effect on Humans
Tar is a mixture of a lot of chemicals, many of which can cause cancer. In addition, tar builds up in the lungs. When it settles, tar forms a sticky, brown residue that can stain smokers' teeth and fingers. Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body, causing many diseases and generally reducing the health of smokers. More deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from HIV, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle accidents, suicides and murders combined.
Cadmium
Chemical found in cigarette smoke
Cadmium is a nasty toxic metal that is a known carcinogen. The levels in tobacco smoke are very low but cadmium is still present.
Effect on Humans
Causes damage to the liver, kidneys and brain, and stays in the body for years.
Toluene
Chemical found in cigarette smoke
Toluene is a highly toxic chemical that is found in car exhaust. The main uses of toluene in industry include manufacturing rubbers, oils, resins, adhesives, inks, detergents, dyes and explosives.
Effect on Humans
Inhaled toluene begins circulating in the blood within 10 seconds and accumulates in body fat, which means it stays in the body for a long time. Toluene is a depressant to the central nervous system in humans. Long-term, low-level exposure results in headaches, loss of appetite, reductions in intelligence and changes in women's periods.
Carbon Monoxide
Chemical found in cigarette smoke
Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas that is absorbed into the blood, reducing the blood's oxygen-carrying capacity, thereby reducing the body's tolerance for exercise. Someone who smokes 20 cigarettes a day can have a carbon monoxide level in their blood, that is 5-10 times higher than that of a non-smoker.
Effect on Humans
Since it deprives the body of oxygen, carbon monoxide makes the blood sticky and can cause problems with the growth, repair and exchange of healthy nutrients. Ultimately, carbon monoxide disrupts the electrical activity in the heart and encourages fatty deposits to clog up arterial walls.
Cyanide
Chemical found in cigarette smoke
Cyanide is contained in cigarette smoke when all the synthetic additives inside a cigarette burn. It also is used to make fibers, plastics, dyes, pesticides, and other chemicals, and as a gas to kill rats.
Effect on Humans
Cyanide is a known carcinogen. Breathing small amounts of cyanide can cause headache, dizziness, weakness, nausea and vomiting. Inhaling large amounts of this chemical will lead to death - as was the case during World War II when it was used in concentration camps
N-nitrosamines
Chemical found in cigarette smoke
Typical cigarette smoke includes N-nitrosdiethylamine (NDEA) and N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), both of which are classified as environmental carcinogens. Practically all N-nitrosamines collect in the respiratory system upon cigarette smoke inhalation.
Effect on Humans
Studies of N-nitrosamine indicate that it is a metabolically activated carcinogen, which disrupts smokers' DNA. When used with alcohol, N-nitrosamine becomes even more of a carcinogen.
Benzene
Chemical found in cigarette smoke
Benzene is produced during the burning of a cigarette. It is used to make everything from pesticides to detergent to gasoline.
Effect on Humans
Benzene is a known carcinogen. It is absorbed by the lungs and then transported to various organs throughout the body, especially the liver. Once the chemical changes take place in the body, it's converted into compounds that are very reactive and toxic. Benzene also causes irreversible damage to the lungs, contributing to illnesses like emphysema and asthma in children whose parents smoke. People also can develop leukemia within two to 50 years after exposure to benzene.
Formaldehyde
Chemical found in cigarette smoke
Formaldehyde is a chemical used to kill bacteria, preserve dead bodies and manufacture other chemicals. The main uses of formaldehyde are fertilizers, dyes, disinfectants, germicides, preservatives and embalming fluid. Tobacco smoke is a major source of formaldehyde exposure. In settings that are not smoke-free, the air can have three times the normal levels of this poison.
Effect on Humans
Formaldehyde is one of the substances in tobacco smoke most likely to cause diseases in the lungs and airways. It is suspected of causing cancer in humans, and it also is known to produce allergic reactions and asthma-like conditions, lightheadedness, dizziness, diminished coordination, itching eyes, dry and sore throats, disturbed sleep, unusual thirst and harmful disease in humans.
Nickel
Chemical found in cigarette smoke
The main industrial uses of nickel include production of stainless steel, alloys, electroplating, coins and alkaline batteries.
Effect on Humans
Nickel inhalation increases the risk of cancer and of gastrointestinal symptoms, and increases a person's chances of getting a respiratory infection, allergic contact dermatitis, and fluid build-up in the lungs.
Polonium-210
Chemical found in cigarette smoke
Polonium is a rare, radioactive element and polonium-210 is its most common form. Polonium emits a very damaging type of radiation called alpha-radiation that usually can be blocked by thin layers of skin. Tobacco smoke contains traces of polonium that is deposited inside the airways and delivers radiation directly to surrounding cells.
Effect on Humans
The lungs of smokers can be exposed to four times more polonium than those of non-smokers and specific parts of smokers' lungs may get a hundred times more radiation. One study estimated that someone who smokes one and half packs of cigarettes a day receives the equivalent amount of radiation as someone having 300 chest X-rays a year.
Acrolein
Chemical found in cigarette smoke
Acrolein is a gas with an intense, nauseating smell and is one of the most abundant chemicals in cigarette smoke. It belongs to the same group of chemicals as formaldehyde and acetaldehyde, both of which can cause cancer.
Effect on Humans
Acrolein stops cells from repairing DNA damage, much like arsenic and cadmium. And like hydrogen cyanide, it kills the hairs (cilia) that normally clean our lungs of other toxins. Acrolein can cause DNA damage that is similar to the damage seen in lung cancer patients. Since smoke contains up to 1,000 times more acrolein than other DNA-damaging chemicals, acrolein may be a major cause of lung cancer.