Health Issues | What's Inside a Cigarette?
...Nicotine is an Insecticide!!...
Department of Health
Cigarettes Contain 4000 Chemicals
Some of the ones that you might recognise are listed below
| Poison | Common Uses |
|---|---|
| Acetone | Nail Varnish Remover |
| Acetic | Acid Vinegar |
| Ammonia | Cleaning Agents |
| Arsenic | Ant Poison |
| Benzene | Petrol Fumes |
| Cadmium | Batteries / Smelling Salts |
| Carbon Monoxide | Poisonous Gas from Exhaust Fumes |
| Carbon Tetrachloride | Dry Cleaning Fluid |
| DDT | Insecticide |
| Formaldehyde | Embalming Fluid |
| Hydrocarbons | Jeyes Fluid / Care Products |
| Hydrogen Sulphide | Stink Bombs |
| Lead | Batteries / Petrol Fumes |
| Methanol | Rocket Fuel |
| Methyl Isocynate | Responsible for Bhopal Disaster |
| Nicotine | Insecticide |
| Nitric Acic & Sulphuric Acid | Power Station Emission |
| Polonium-210 | Radioactive Fall-out |
| Radon | Radioactive Gas |
| Tars | Road Surfaces |
| Tuolene | Industrial Solvent |
Shocked? you should be - your body is every time you puff!
Nicotine is the addictive drug in tobacco. It increases your heart rate, constrict the blood vessels and puts up the blood pressure.
Tar coats your lungs like it does the roads. A 20-a-day smoker breathes in a mug full of tar every year. Tar damages the hairs that clean the lungs and it inflames the air sacs. Mucus builds up and this results in the smokers' cough. Eventually it causes bronchitis and emphysema. It also yellows the teeth, hands and skin.
Carbon Monoxide robs your brain, heart and muscles of oxygen. Carbon monoxide combines with nicotine to thicken the blood. This can cause heart attacks and stokes, blood clots in the limbs and amputation. 3 out of 4 deaths from heart attacks in men are due to smoking.
Now why not take a look at the other Health Issues pages:
Around the body
See the different effects it has on each part of your body
Benefits of Giving up
See what happens over time
Sex & Smoking
Find out how your sex life can be affected by smoking
What's in a cigarette?
Find out what's really inside a cigarette
Diabetes, Asthma & Smoking
Smoking can increase your risk of getting diabetes as well as cause serious complications if you have it.