What’s In Cigarette Smoke?
A Recipe For Toxic Soup
One cigarette contains over 4,000 chemicals — 69 are known to cause cancer to humans and over 200 are known to be toxic to humans. Some examples are:
ACETIC ACID: found in hair dye and developer
ACETONE: Found in fingernail polish remover
AMMONIA: Found in many household cleaners used to clean floors and toilets
ARSENIC: Found in rat poison
BENZENE: Found in rubber cement
BUTANE: Found in lighter fluid
CADMIUM: Found in batteries and artists’ oil paint
CARBON MONOXIDE: Found in car exhaust fumes
ETHANOL: Found in alcohol
FORMALDEYHDE: Found in embalming fluid
HEXAMINE: Found in barbecue lighter fluid
HYDRAZINE: Used in jet and rocket fuels
LEAD: Found in batteries
MERCURY: Found in the liquid that was used in older thermometers (not used anymore as it was too dangerous)
METHANE GAS: Found in manure or any other feces
METHANOL: Used in rocket fuel
NAPTHALENES: Used in explosives, moth balls, and paint pigments
NICOTINE: This addictive drug has also been used as an insecticide
PHENOL: Used in disinfectants and plastics
STYRENE: Found in insulation material
TAR: Found in road pavement and roofing materials
Additional Toxic Ingredients Found in Cigarettes and Cigarette Smoke
CARBON TETRACHLORIDE: Also found in dry cleaning fluid
DDT: Found in a pesticide so dangerous that it has been banned for use in the U.S.
HYDROGEN CYANIDE: Also used as poison in gas chambers
NITROSAMINES: Found in weed killers
POLONIUM: Found in radioactive substances; one pack of cigarettes equals the radiation dosage of 300 chest x-rays in one year
RADON: A gas known to cause lung cancer
TOLUENE: embalmer’s glue, industrial solvents
AND THE LIST OF POISONS GOES ON AND ON!!!!
Adapted from website information from the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Office of Health Promotion, Education and Tobacco Use Prevention:
mdpublichealth.org/ohpetup/tobacco/tobacco.html
For more information please contact:
The DC Tobacco Free Coalition at: www.dctfc.org
