Tar
In tobacco smoke, tar is a sticky, black residue
containing hundreds of chemicals, many of which are
considered carcinogenic or classified as hazardous
waste. They include polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH),
aromatic amines and inorganic compounds.
Nicotine
Nicotine occurs naturally in tobacco plants and is
responsible for causing the addiction to tobacco
products. It harms your cardiovascular and endocrine
systems.
Carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide (CO) is in tobacco smoke as a result of
burning tobacco. It reduces the ability of your red
blood cells to deliver oxygen to tissues, causing the
greatest potential damage to the heart, brain and
skeletal muscles -- tissues that have the most demand
for oxygen. You're probably also familiar with the
potentially fatal effects on people who breathe this
colourless, odourless gas also found in automobile
exhaust.
Formaldehyde
Formaldehyde is classified by the United States
Environmental Protection Agency as a probable human
carcinogen. It is registered in Canada as a pesticide.
Its health effects can be drastic on smokers and those
exposed to tobacco smoke. Eye, nose and throat
irritations and other breathing problems are just some
of the symptoms.
Hydrogen cyanide
This is considered one of the most toxic agents found in
tobacco smoke. Many short and long-term toxic effects of
cigarette smoke have been associated with hydrogen
cyanide. Frequent exposure to lower concentrations will
cause weakness, headache, nausea, vomiting, rapid
breathing and eye and skin irritation.
Benzene
Declared toxic under the Canadian Environmental
Protection Act, benzene is believed to harm you at any
level of exposure. The International Agency for Research
on Cancer describes it as a Group 1 carcinogen.
"Toxic" means these substances are potentially poisonous for tobacco users, smokers and non-smokers. The following diseases or conditions can be related to tobacco use:
Cigarette smoking and other forms of tobacco use are highly addictive. While there are psychological elements to the addiction, research shows there is a strong physical correlation, as well. Nicotine is the drug in tobacco that causes addiction.
Here's some eye opening information on how nicotine works:
Nicotine causes chemical or biological changes in the brain. This effect is called psychoactive and although it is less dramatic than heroin or cocaine, the strength of the addiction is just as powerful. It is a 'reinforcing' drug, which means that users desire the drug regardless of the damaging effects.
For example, in research conducted in 1994, only 50 per cent of smokers who suffered a heart attack managed to quit smoking even though their doctors advised them to. Coincidentally, 50 per cent of all regular smokers die as a result of smoking.
Nicotine addiction is a physical dependency. Withdrawal symptoms can be severe and many smokers cannot quit on their first attempt because of these symptoms. The most severe withdrawal symptoms occur within the first week although the craving for cigarettes can persist for months even years. The desire to smoke can be especially strong when a person is under stress although others crave cigarettes while socializing or when bored. The typical withdrawal symptoms are:
Other side effects such as fatigue and coughing are indications that the body is in a state of repair and is cleaning out the poisons associated with smoking.
Your body uses food more slowly when you first stop smoking. You may eat more when you quit too, so there is a good chance you will gain weight. And, while the average weight gain is five pounds, not everyone gains weight when they quit smoking.
The human body builds a tolerance to nicotine and the effect of the drug is reduced over time. As a result, regular smokers can inhale greater amounts of smoke and therefore, greater amounts of toxins without showing immediate effects (such as coughing, nausea).
Nicotine is extremely poisonous if consumed in large amounts and most people feel sick and dizzy the first time they smoke. These negative affects are quickly overcome. Over time the body builds a tolerance to nicotine, resulting in an increase in the amount of cigarettes smoked.
Cigarette smoke is acidic and therefore nicotine is absorbed through the lungs. Pipe and cigar smoke is alkaline, also typically pipe and cigar smokers do not inhale, so the nicotine is absorbed more slowly through the mucosal membranes in the mouth. Human lungs are very efficient in absorbing nicotine which then moves through the bloodstream and into the brain and other organs of the body.
It takes only ten seconds for nicotine to reach the brain after being inhaled. This causes several physiological reactions:
Levels of dependency vary, but 89 per cent of smokers have a cigarette every one to two hours throughout the day.
A highly addicted smoker smokes more than 25 cigarettes a day, ranks the first cigarette in the day as the most important, and will smoke within 30 minutes of waking up.