Facts & Info

Recipe for a Cigarette

Download: Recipe for a Cigarette (PDF)

There are more than 4,000 ingredients in a cigarette other than tobacco. Common additives include yeast, wine, caffeine, beeswax and chocolate.

Here are some other ingredients:

Ammonia : Household cleaner

Angelica root extract : Known to cause cancer in animals

Arsenic : Used in rat poisons

Benzene: Used in making dyes, synthetic rubber

Butane : Gas; used in lighter fluid

Carbon monoxide : Poisonous gas

Cadmium: Used in batteries

Cyanide: Deadly poison

DDT: A banned insecticide

Ethyl Furoate : Causes liver damage in animals

Lead: Poisonous in high doses

Formaldehiyde : Used to preserve dead specimens

Methoprene: Insecticide

Megastigmatrienone: Chemical naturally found in grapefruit juice

Maltitol : Sweetener for diabetics

Napthalene : Ingredient in mothballs

Methyl isocyanate : Its accidental release killed 2000 people in Bhopal, India in 1984

Polonium : Cancer-causing radioactive element

Quit Smoking and then ...

Time from your last cigarette:

  • 20 Minutes later:
    • Your pulse rate and blood pressure drop to the levels
      they were before you started smoking.
  • 10 Hours Later:
    • The levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in your blood return to normal.
  • 3 Days later:
    • Your lung capacity begins to increase.
  • 4 years Later:
    • You will reduce your risk of a heart attack to that of a non-smoker
  • 10 years later:
    • You will reduce your chances of dying of lung cancer to that of a non-smoker.

Give yourself a break!

 

Study Finds N.Y. Smoking Ban Helping

Bar and restaurant workers in New York are suffering fewer sore throats and runny noses since the state's workplace smoking ban went into effect, health officials reported. The reduction is linked to the dramatic decline in employees' exposure to second-hand smoke, according to findings published in the August issue of Tobacco Control, a public health journal.

· For a news report on the findings, visit:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=984228&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

· To view the abstract and for information on purchasing the article, visit: http://tc.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/14/4/236