Added Toxins in Cigarettes

Chemical analysis of cigarette smoke shows the presence of more than 4,000 chemical substances, 43 of which are powerful carcinogen, and over 400 - toxins that otherwise negatively affect human health.

In addition to highly addictive nicotine, the most dangerous chemicals in tobacco smoke include tar, formaldehyde (used to preserve corpses), carbon monoxide (known poison), DDT (insecticide that has been banned due to its highly poisonous qualities), arsenic (substance often used in rat poisons), ammonia (chemical toilet cleanser; damages the lungs), and hydrogen cyanide (deadly poison). Nicotine depresses the central nervous system and inhibits the nerve cell signals. In large doses, it is extremely poisonous to our hormones, blood vessels, circulation, heart, and the brain. Tar, the amount of which in cigarette smoke increases with every new puff, accumulates in the lungs and eventually causes dangerous lung diseases. Carbon monoxide slows down the transport of oxygen-carrying red blood cells to organs and tissues.

Since tobacco companies were forced to reveal their formerly secret ingredients used in the production of cigarettes, the general public have become acquainted with a long list of poisonous substances that smokers inhale on a regular basis. The total of 600 ingredients other than tobacco can be added to cigarettes to “enhance” their flavour and lure customers to smoke more.

Recently made public, the list of ingredients used in the production of L&M cigarettes, for example, has featured phenylacetic acid, synthetic beeswax, yeast, high fructose corn syrup, caffeine, molasses, sugar, patchouli and cedarwood oils, chocolate, artificial liquorice flavour, and modified milk ingredients. However, not all of the added ingredients sound as innocent as “sugar”. A more extensive list of cigarette additives used by the leading US brands shows the following ingredients: benzene (synthetic rubber used in dyes), methoprene (dangerous insecticide) naphthalene (mothball ingredient), ethyl furoate (lung-damaging chemical), methyl isocyanate (extremely poisonous substance that accidentally killed hundreds of people in India in 1984), as well as lead, cadmium, nickel, and polonium (all known chemical poisons with cancer-provoking qualities).

Many researchers say that these added ingredients are even more dangerous than nicotine-containing tobacco itself.

Darlene Marlow
Canada Drug Pharmacy