The Make Up of a Cigarette

The list of ingredients in cigarettes is astronomically long. Scientists have identified over 4,000 chemicals in the modern cigarette, many of which are toxic to the human body. Around 43 different carcinogens have been identified in cigarettes, making them an obvious public health threat.

Cigarette Ingredients

The smoke produced by smoking contains a host of poisonous gases. Among these gases is carbon monoxide, nitrogen, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, formaldehyde and acrolein.  Ammonia is added to cigarettes to increase the effects of nicotine on smokers. It is rather disturbing to think that we smoke something that we use to disinfect our floors. Cigarettes also contain the rat poison cyanide. So, basically the same thing we use to get rid of rodents in our homes and factories we are inhaling in to our lungs. Formaldehyde is in cigarettes and that is used to embalm dead bodies. Other substances are added to cigarettes to enhance flavor, aroma and to preserve the freshness of the tobacco. Menthol is added to some cigarette brands for this purpose. Smokers who smoke menthol cigarettes experience a cooling sensation when they draw on their cigarette. Menthol cigarettes are also popular because the of their minty taste. Menthol is not known to increase the risks of most smoking related illnesses, but it is believed to increase the risks of oral related smoking illnesses. When you actually look at the ingredient list of the modern cigarette it is understandable why cigarette use is so deadly.

Cigarette Facts

The number of people in America alone who smoke cigarettes is around 25.9 million men and 20.7 million women are smokers. Certain studies have shown that the percentage of people of low income level that smoke is greater than the percentage of people who are in the high income brackets. Many researchers believe that this is directly related to the level of income a person completes. The Number of people who are considered below the poverty level who smoke is around 29.9%. On the flip side the number  of people who smoke that have completed more than 16 years of education is 7.1 % as opposed to 32.6% among people who have less than 11 years of completed education. 

The ingredients in cigarettes are dangerous and often deadly. Smoking cigarettes increases a persons likelihood of developing a variety of life threatening illnesses. In fact, 50% of all smokers will die of a smoking related illness. Among all the patients who are diagnosed with lung cancer, smokers make up almost 90% of all these cases. Unfortunately, lung cancer in many cases is incurable and the rate of recovery is a mere 15%. Smoking also increases the chances that you will develop heart disease. Smoking cigarettes also raises your blood pressure and increases the likelihood that you will have a stroke or heart attack. Smoking also increases your risk for lung disease, asthma, emphysema, gallbladder issues, diabetes and a variety of other types of deadly cancer.