Smoking and Tobacco-Use

Information and Health Hazards

Smoking Statistics

•Cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 toxic substances, many of which are known to cause cancer in humans

•Nicotine dependency through cigarette smoking is the most common form of drug addiction and causes more death and disease than all other addictions combined.

•Forty percent of teenagers who smoke daily have tried to quit and failed.

Constituents of tobacco smoke

•Tar

•Nicotine

•Carbon Monoxide

•Nitrogen Oxides

•Hydrogen Cyanide and other ciliatoxic agents

•Metals

•Radioactive Compounds

•Agricultural Chemicals

•Flavors and other additives

Tar

The particulate matter inhaled by a smoker from a lighted cigarette. In its condensate form, tar is a sticky brown substance which stains smokers’ teeth, fingers, and lung tissue yellow brown.

Nicotine

Nicotine is among the most toxic of all poisons. The average lethal dose is between 30 to 60 mg.

Carbon Monoxide

In large amounts, carbon monoxide is rapidly fatal. It has many toxic effects, but the most important is its impairment of oxygen transportation in the blood.

Nitrogen Oxides

Causes lung cancer and leads to emphysema.

Hydrogen Cyanide

Hydrogen cyanide is usually used as a poison in gas chambers. Has a direct lethal effect on the cilia, hindering the natural clearing mechanism of the lung.

Other Ciliatoxic Agents:

Acrolein

Ammonia: used in typical household cleaners

Nitrogen Dioxide

Formaldehyde: used to embalm dead bodies

Metals: (30 metals have been detected in cigarette smoke)

Arsenic: usually used in rat poison

Cadmium: found in batteries and in artists’ oil paint

Chromium: associated with cancer in humans

Nickel

Radioactive Compounds:

Polonium-210: radiation dosage equal to 300 chest X-rays in one year

Potassium-40

Radium-226 and Radium-228

Thorium-228

Other chemicals:

Acetic Acid: hair dye and developer.

Acetone: main ingredient in paint and fingernail (polish) remover

Benzene: rubber cement

Hydrazine: used in jet and rocket fuels

Phenol: used in disinfectants and plastics

Styrene: found in insulation material

Toluene: embalmers glue

Vinyl Chloride: ingredient found in garbage bags

Agricultural Chemicals: (pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides)

Dieldrin

DDT: rat poison

Oropharyngeal Cancer

Oesophageal Cancer

Stomach Cancer

Anal Cancer

Pancreatic Cancer

Laryngeal Cancer

Lung Cancer

Cervical Cancer

Vulval Cancer

Penile Cancer

Bladder Cancer

Renal Parenchymal Cancer

Renal Pelvic Cancer

Ischaemic Heart Disease

Pulmonary Circulation Disease

Cardiac Dysrhythmias

Heart Failure

Stroke

Disease

Arteriosclerosis

Pneumonia

COPD

Peptic Ulcer

Crohn’s Disease

Ulcerative Colitis

Low Birth weight

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

Fire Injuries

Diseases caused by smoking

Images

Lung with Emphysema

A Smoker’s Lung

Hardened Artery

The Tobacco Industry

Images

Smoke, Why Not?

Health Reasons:

•Avoid premature death

•Avoid diseases

•Stay physically fit / stay athletic, do sports

Economic Reasons:

•Avoid an unnecessary expense (40 to 100 pesos per pack)

•Use your money for other things

Social Reasons:

•Be socially accepted (some people don’t like smokers)

•Be considerate (smoking affects others around you with second-hand smoke)

•Be respectable – show will-power and maturity

•Be attractive (smoking causes yellowing of teeth and fingers, bad breath, unattractive coughing, foul-smelling clothes, impotence in males)

Avoid addiction