Facts About: Nicotine - Tobacco - Cigarettes

What is Tobacco?

Tobacco is a tall, leafy annual plant, originally grown in South and Central America, but now cultivated throughout the world, including southern Ontario. There are many species of tobacco; Nicotiana tabacum, or common tobacco, is used to produce cigarettes.

About 90% of the content of cigarettes is plant matter. The remaining 10% is a combination of chemicals and other additives. Nicotine is a powerful central nervous system stimulant found naturally in the tobacco leaf. It is classified as a drug. In higher doses, nicotine is extremely poisonous. It is commonly used as an insecticide.

Tobacco leaves can be burned and inhaled (in the form of cigarettes, cigars, pipes, smoke, etc.) or absorbed through the mouth in the form of spit tobacco, chew, or snuff. The membranes in the nose, mouth and lungs act as nicotine delivery systems - transmitting nicotine into the blood and to the brain. Smokers usually feel dizzy and sick when they first inhale the nicotine in tobacco, but gradually build up tolerance to its effects.

Nicotine is highly addictive

Stopping use can produce unpleasant withdrawal symptoms including depression, irritability, anxiety, and craving for nicotine.

Manufacturers also add compounds like ammonia to cigarettes. These compounds are commonly referred to as additives, or flavourings.

“Tar” - a short name for the solid particles found in tobacco smoke - is made up of the natural by-product of burning tobacco and chemical additives. Cigarette smoke contains about 4,000 known poisons and cancer-causing substances, including cyanide, benzene, vinyl chloride, and formaldehyde.

Tobacco may be a natural substance - but it is anything but harmless. When used exactly as intended by manufacturers, tobacco kills.

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HERE ARE THE STRAIGHT FACTS... About Cigarette Smoking

Although many people smoke because they believe cigarettes calm their nerves, smoking releases epinephrine, a hormone which creates physiological stress in the smoker, rather than relaxation. The use of tobacco is addictive. Most users develop tolerance for nicotine and need greater amounts to produce a desired effect. Smokers become physically and psychologically dependent and will suffer withdrawal symptoms including: changes in body temperature, heart rate, digestion, muscle tone, and appetite. Psychological symptoms include: irritability, anxiety, sleep disturbances, nervousness, headaches, fatigue, nausea, and cravings for tobacco that can last days, weeks, months, years, or an entire lifetime.

Risks associated with smoking cigarettes:

diminished or extinguished sense of smell and taste
frequent colds
smoker's cough
gastric ulcers
chronic bronchitis
increase in heart rate and blood pressure
premature and more abundant face wrinkles
emphysema
heart disease
stroke
cancer of the mouth, larynx, pharynx, esophagus, lungs, pancreas, cervix, uterus, and bladder

Cigarette smoking is perhaps the most devastating preventable cause of disease and premature death.

Smoking is particularly dangerous for teens because their bodies are still developing and changing and the 4,000 chemicals (including 200 known poisons) in cigarette smoke can adversely affect this process.

Cigarettes are highly addictive. One-third of young people who are just "experimenting" end up being addicted by the time they are 20.