subject: Smoking Cigarettes?-know more about it! [print this page] There are many reasons to dislike cigarette smoking. Cigarette smoke smells awful (to most people); cigarettes can be messy; cigarette smoke can reduce the capacity of the smoker's lungs. But there are two things which are most disadvantageous about cigarette smoking: the number of chemicals which are inhaled with the smoke and second-hand cigarette smoke.
Recently, there has been information published which states that there are more than 4000 chemicals found in cigarette smoke. Some of the most recognizable and harmful chemicals inhaled when a person is smoking are acetone, ammonia, arsenic, benzene, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide, nicotine, and tar.
Many additives have been approved by the US Government for use in the manufacture of cigarettes. While these ingredients are approved as additives for foods, they were subjected to burning tests. It is the burning of many of these substances which changes their properties and creates dangerous chemicals that are the byproducts of smoking cigarettes.
Second-hand cigarette smoke can be inhaled by innocent and unsuspecting people in the vicinity of the person doing the smoking. When a cigarette is smoked, about 50% of the smoke is inhaled and exhaled by the smoker; the other 50% into the surrounding air. Both of these types of smoke that result from cigarette smoking are called environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). The following problems have been linked to second-hand smoke: cancer from inhaling the second-hand smoke, low birth weight for children of smoking mothers, an increased incidence of sudden infant death syndrome for children of smoking mothers, asthma, middle ear infections, and respiratory symptoms such as coughing and wheezing.
If a person definitely does not want to stop smoking, or can't stop smoking, there is an alternative to buying cigarettes that are pre-packaged and contain the many harmful chemicals that cause health problems. Fewer chemicals may be found in cigarettes that are rolled from fresh, unprocessed tobacco. These are often referred to as "roll your own" cigarettes. The tobacco can be purchased from specialty smoking shops.
