Low-tar, Low-nicotine Cigarettes
Due to the lower tar and lower nicotine content of some cigarettes, many beginning smokers do not experience as many initial, unpleasant side effects [dizziness, nausea, headache] as beginners who start off with regular brands of cigarettes. They are, therefore, more inclined to continue, thus increasing their chances of becoming fully addicted to nicotine. When former users of regular cigarettes smoke low-tar, low-nicotine cigarettes, they often find themselves inhaling more deeply, holding the smoke longer in their lungs and smoking the cigarette further down to get their "usual" nicotine dose.
Clove Cigarettes
In the 1980s, cigarette smokers began to take up Indonesian-produced clove cigarettes in the mistaken belief that they were safer than regular cigarettes. Clove cigarettes [also called kretek cigarettes] contain about 60 percent tobacco and 40 percent shredded clove buds. Clove is the spice taken from the dried flower buds of East Indian evergreen trees. Actually, clove cigarettes not only produce all the problems associated with all-tobacco cigarettes, they generate even more nicotine, tar and carbon monoxide than American cigarettes. Clove cigarettes can cause serious lung injury and respiratory illnesses in some users. For example, for users with early, nonspecific symptoms of respiratory illness, smoking clove cigarettes may lead to the development of pneumonia, bronchitis and bloody fluid in the lungs.
Some lung problems also occur in those who have normal respiratory tracts and no signs of respiratory illness. These are caused in part by a chemical in cloves called eugenol, which acts as a throat anesthetic. The eugenol in clove cigarettes diminishes the gag reflex and increases the risk of pneumonia and other problems because smokers can unintentionally inhale fluid into the lungs.
Hazards of Cigar Smoking
Many people believe that cigar and pipe smoking is relatively safe compared with cigarette smoking. When compared with cigarette smokers, however, cigar smokers are just as likely to develop cancer of the mouth, throat and larynx. The basic rule of thumb about tobacco smoke is that the cancer tends to develop where the smoke is held the longest; hence the equal risk regarding these three types of cancer.
While it is true that cigarette smokers are more likely than cigar smokers to develop lung cancer, emphysema and heart disease, cigar smokers are at many times greater risk for these diseases than people who do not use tobacco.
Smokeless Tobacco
Smokeless tobacco includes both chewing tobacco and snuff. It is sometimes called "spit tobacco," because the product stimulates the salivary glands, thus making it necessary to spit the saliva out frequently. Swallowing the nicotine-filled saliva would make the user ill. Harmful effects of smokeless tobacco include:
Smokeless tobacco manufacturers are now required by the Smokeless Tobacco Education Act to place warning labels on product containers. The labels warn users that smokeless tobacco is not a healthy alternative to cigarettes and that it may cause gum disease and cancer of the mouth. 2 of 3 cases of oral and pharyngeal cancer are users of smokeless tobacco. Long term users of smokeless tobacco are 50 times more likely to develop cancers of the cheek or gum.
A pocket-size packet of smokeless tobacco contains as much nicotine as three packs of cigarettes. The moister the tobacco, the higher the nicotine content.
Other ingredients in smokeless tobacco include formaldehyde, which is embalming fluid, nitrosamine and benzopyrene, which are known carcinogens, and Uranium 235 and Polonium 210, both of which are nuclear products. The nicotine and other ingredients in smokeless tobacco are absorbed into the body faster through the tissues of the mouth than through inhaling.
Effect of Environmental Tobacco Smoke
Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) may be one of two kinds of tobacco smoke. The smoke that is inhaled and then exhaled by the smoker is called "mainstream" smoke. The smoke that comes from the burning end of the cigarette, pipe or cigar is called "sidestream" smoke. Breathing either of these kinds of tobacco smoke is called "passive smoking."
Much of the nicotine, carbon monoxide and particulate matter in tobacco smoke is kept in the smoker's lungs, so mainstream smoke is responsible for only a little of people's exposure to passive smoking. Sidestream smoke is responsible for 85 percent of the smoke passive smokers inhale.
Sidestream smoke is not filtered by the tobacco, the filter or a smoker's lungs, so it contains more nicotine, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide than mainstream smoke. Sidestream smoke also has 20 to 100 times the quantity of cancer-causing substances that mainstream smoke has.
Recent studies report that passive smoking may be responsible for between 10,000 and 20,000 premature deaths per year for nonsmokers in the United States. In addition, ETS is associated with lung cancer, heart disease, low birth weight babies, asthma, eye irritations, ear infections, headaches and coughs in nonsmokers.
Passive smoking poses serious threats to nonsmokers within residential settings. Nonsmoking spouses of smokers are three times more likely to experience heart attacks and also have a 30 percent greater risk of lung cancer than nonsmoking spouses of nonsmokers.
The children of parents who smoke are twice as likely as children of nonsmoking parents to experience bronchitis or pneumonia the first year of life. In addition, throughout their childhood, these children will experience more wheezing, coughing and colds than children whose parents do not smoke. The effect on children is greatest when both parents smoke.
Because of the small size of the particles produced by burning tobacco, even the most modern ventilation system cannot completely remove ETS from an indoor site. Due to concerns about passive smoking, smoking restrictions are becoming more common. Most buildings in which people work, reside, eat or play now have some smoking restrictions.
In 1994, McDonald's announced that all its restaurants were smoke-free. Arby's and Wendy's have banned smoking in some stores as well. Currently, smoking is banned on all U.S. domestic plane flights, and American Airlines has banned smoking on some international flights as well.
