INGREDIENTS OF CIGARETTES

Cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, including 43 known cancer-causing (carcinogenic) compounds and 400 other toxins. These include nicotine, tar, and carbon monoxide, as well as formaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, arsenic, and DDT. Nicotine is highly addictive. Smoke containing nicotine is inhaled into the lungs, and the nicotine reaches your brain in just six seconds. While not as serious as heroin addiction, addiction to nicotine also poses very serious health risks in the long run. Nicotine in small doses acts as a stimulant to the brain. In large doses, it's a depressant, inhibiting the flow of signals between nerve cells. In even larger doses, it's a lethal poison, affecting the heart, blood vessels, and hormones. Nicotine in the bloodstream acts to make the smoker feel calm. As a cigarette is smoked, the amount of tar inhaled into the lungs increases, and the last puff contains more than twice as much tar as the first puff. Carbon monoxide makes it harder for red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout the body. Tar is a mixture of substances that together form a sticky mass in the lungs. Most of the chemicals inhaled in cigarette smoke stay in the lungs. The more you inhale, the better it feelsand the greater the damage to your lungs.Ask anyone with a medical lab technology degree. They will be able to tell you what damage smoking does to the lungs."

EFFECTS OF THE INGREDIENTS

Cancer Asthma Respiratory disease or infection Irritate the eyes,nose or throat Headache, Nausea Or Dizziness Cause Kidney Disease Affect The Reproductive System irritate the Skin

DANGER OF SMOKING
Smoking is a down right filthy habit that affects not only your health, but the health of others around you. A pity on your children if you smoke around them. And as governments continuously impose higher taxes on tobacco, the costs of lighting up can run into the thousands per year for each smoker. So why do people still smoke? Simple answer - nicotine addiction!
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Nicotine Levels on the Increase

Nicotine
Nicotine addiction has been found to be one of the hardest addictions to kick. With an increase in anti-smoking campaigns, tobacco companies are upping the levels of nicotine in their cigarettes to make it all that harder to quit smoking. Nicotine is odorless and colorless and varies in concentrations from 1 to 16 grams per cigarette. Nicotine enters the bloodstream together with tar, reaching the brain in less than 10 seconds. In less than a minute, nicotine spreads throughout the entire body. It then increases the heart rate and blood pressure, providing the smoker with alertness and a relaxing effect.

In less that 30 minutes, the nicotine effects decrease, and the smoker becomes irritable and less alert. Thats why they have the tendency to grab and light another cigarette to get a new "fix" from nicotine. This explains the addictive effect of smoking. Before a person knows it, they have lit more than 10 cigarettes in one day.
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Tar
Tar attaches to the linings of the lungs and destroys its hair like projections (cilia) which traps harmful particles inhaled into the lungs.

Tar also decreases the lung's elasticity, making it harder to pump much needed oxygen throughout the body.

Carbon Monoxide
Yet another toxic chemical released into your body when inhaling the smoke of cigarettes. Carbon monoxide binds with hemoglobin, decreasing the ability of red blood cells to supply large amount of oxygen to the body. Thats why smokers easily get tired because they need to take more breaks in order to compensate for the lack of oxygen in the body.

Long-Term Effects
As time goes by, the long-term effects of smoking become even more clear. Effects on the skin are apparent. A smoker develops stains on their teeth and fingers and develop halitosis (bad breath). Even the smokers clothes and environment smells like cigarette smoke. Cardiovascular diseases develop because of the accumulation of plaque in the lining of blood vessels, especially on the coronary arteries, causing atherosclerosis. A decrease in the functioning of the lungs can lead to diseases like chronic bronchitis and emphysema, which are irreversible diseases of the respiratory system. Cancer, heart disease, increased risk of illness and reduced athletic performace is what a smoker really orders each time they buy their next packet of cigarettes.

Dangers of Smoking in the News

Irrfan Khan wants to quit smokingPTI via Yahoo! India News18 hours ago New Delhi, Feb 5 (PTI) Irrfan Khan started smoking while doing his first play but the actor now wants to kick the bad habit, which he calls his biggest disappointment. A selfconfessed chain-smoker, Irrfan says his character was required to smoke in his debut play. He wanted it to look natural but ended up picking up the habit. "I started smoking while doing my first play but I want to quit it ... Healthy Living: Quitting smokingYNN Rochester16 hours ago Smoking is a hard habit to kick. Casey Bortnick tells us more about successful programs that can help. Sales of smoking cessation products soar in SpainPeople's Daily24 hours ago Sales of smoking cessation products have soared in Spain since a tough anti-tobacco law took effect last month. Sales of the products jumped 599 percent in January from December, said the Federation of Pharmaceutical Distributors (Fedifar).