Cocktail of Chemicals

Published on August 8, 2008 3:24 AM

One of the worst habits a man can do is smoking a cigarette, because it has been directly linked to an increased risk of many illnesses as heart disease, cancer and even sexual impotence. Nicotine raises blood pressure, increases the strain on the heart, and constricts the blood vessels. The cause of 30 per cent of all cancer deaths is smoking. Other cancers which are linked to smoking include: cancers of the mouth, lip and throat, cervical cancer, bladder cancer, kidney cancer, pancreatic cancer, leukemia, stomach cancer, liver cancer.

You should know that cigarettes are not just made of tobacco, tar and nicotine. More than 600 additives are added to tobacco products such as: sugar, vanilla, coffee extract, cocoa, oil from clove stems, menthol, caramel and chlorophyll, the mixture that gives plants their green color. But they may also have more ill-boding effects. For instance, cocoa in a cigarette produces bromine gas that increases the body’s ability to absorb nicotine and dilates the airways of the lung. Menthol enables the smoker to inhale more easily by numbing the throat.

Researchers say that other additives have been developed by tobacco companies: ammonia mixtures, pyridine and acetaldehyde that harm the brain and central nervous system. It may lead to additional fire hazards. The tobacco companies also increases the nicotine content of cigarettes including addition of nicotine to fortify tobacco stems, scraps and other waste materials, adjustment of tobacco blends by using high-nicotine tobaccos to elevate the nicotine concentration in lower tar cigarettes.

Sweeteners such as sugar are also added to cigarettes to make them more pleasant to young people. A spokeswoman for the UK charity Action on Smoking and Health said: “The problem with additives is that they are not just about altering the flavor of cigarettes. Research has shown that the key purpose of putting extra additives into cigarettes is to improve their potency and ultimately their addictiveness. It is incredible that the tobacco industry has been allowed to get away with putting these compounds into their cigarettes without any requirement to say what they are there for.”

The tobacco manufacturers state that no additives can be added to cigarette products without government permission.