‘Every year, around 114,000 smokers in the UK die…
…About half of all regular cigarette smokers will eventually be killed by their habit......’
(Action on Smoking and Health, August 2006)
Every time you light up a cigarette and inhale, over 4,000 chemicals enter your body, 43 of which are cancer-causing. The main chemicals are:
- Nicotine - a fast-acting addictive drug that causes short-term increase in blood pressure, heart rate, and the flow of blood from the heart. It also causes the arteries to narrow
- Carbon monoxide - a poisonous gas that reduces oxygen in the blood stream, causing breathing problems
- Tar - a sticky black residue made up of thousands of chemicals that stays in the smoker’s lungs and causes cancer
It is the tar and other chemicals in cigarettes that cause cancer.
Other harmful chemicals found in cigarettes include:
- Acetone - used in nail varnish remover
- Ammonia - used in dry cleaning fluids
- Arsenic - used in pest control and insecticides
- Benzene - used in chemical manufacture
- Cadmium - used in batteries
Diseases
Around 90% of lung cancer cases in the UK are caused by tobacco smoking (Cancer Research UK)
Normal lung with carbon deposits from city pollution
Smokers Lung with cancer – the white area is the cancer and the blackened area are deposits of tar a smoker inhales each time they puff
Tobacco consumption can take many forms and over 90% of patients with oral cancer use tobacco in some form (Cancer Research UK)
A tumour on the lip caused from mouth cancer
Real Life Stories
Smoking does KILL YOU......
Ronaldo Martinez was used for the anti-smoking commercials in New York City in 2006. He says in one commercial, “I was 39 when I got throat cancer from smoking cigarettes. I almost died. Now there is a permanent hole in my throat....I never thought anything could keep me from the water...now if water gets inside of me, it will drown me.” Ronaldo has to hold an electronic device up to his neck to speak in a weak, robotic montone.
Wayne McLaren, 51, "Marlboro Cowboy" died of lung cancer, chain smoker
George Harrison, 58, guitarist of The Beatles, died of throat cancer, chain smoker
Jackie Onassis, 64, died from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a form of cancer. Not many people knew she was a 3-pack-a-day chain-smoker