Toxic Chemicals in Cigarettes

If you smoke cigarettes or e-cigarettes, every puff puts poisons, toxic metals, and carcinogens into your bloodstream. In fact, of the more than 7,000 chemicals in cigarette smoke, at least 250 are dangerous to your health, and at least 69 of those can cause cancer. Whether you smoke cigarettes, use e-cigarettes (vape pens), or inhale secondhand smoke, those chemicals affect everything from your blood pressure and pulse rate to your organs and immune system.

Chemicals in Cigarettes

Air tainted with cigarette smoke is dangerous for anyone who breathes it. These are the chemicals that you are exposed to in cigarette smoke.

Carcinogens

A carcinogen is defined as any substance that can cause or aggravate cancer. Approximately 70 of the chemicals in cigarettes are known to cause cancer. These include:

• Acetaldehyde
• Aromatic amines
• Arsenic
• Benzene
• Beryllium (a toxic metal)
• 1,3–Butadiene (a hazardous gas)
• Cadmium (a toxic metal)
• Chromium (a metallic element)
• Cumene
• Ethylene oxide
• Formaldehyde
• Nickel (a metallic element)
• Polonium-210 (a radioactive chemical element)
• Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)
• Tobacco-specific nitrosamines
• Vinyl chloride
  

Toxic Metals

Toxic (heavy) metals are metals and metal compounds that have the potential to harm health when absorbed or inhaled. They're present in the soil and fertilizer used in growing tobacco. In very small amounts, some of these metals support life, but when inhaled in large amounts, they can become toxic. These include:

• Arsenic. Commonly used in rat poison, it finds its way into cigarette smoke through pesticides used in tobacco farming.
• Cadmium. This heavy metal is used in batteries. Smokers typically have twice as much cadmium in their bodies as nonsmokers.

Radioactive Toxic Metals

A couple of toxic metals in cigarette smoke carry extra danger for anyone breathing it in: They are radioactive. Lead-210 (Pb-210) and polonium-210 (Po-210) are poisonous, radioactive heavy metals present in cigarette smoke.

Poisons

Poison is defined as any substance that, when introduced to a living organism, causes severe physical distress or death. Science has discovered approximately 250 poisonous gases in cigarette smoke. Here are a few you might recognize:

• Ammonia compounds. Commonly used in cleaning products and fertilizers, ammonia is also used to boost the impact of nicotine in manufactured cigarettes.
• Carbon monoxide. Present in car exhaust and lethal in large amounts, it's present at high levels in cigarette smoke.
• Hydrogen cyanide. This was used to kill people in gas chambers during the Holocaust.
• Nicotine. This poison used in pesticides is the addictive element in cigarettes.

Secondhand Smoke

Also known as environmental tobacco smoke, secondhand smoke is cigarette smoke that comes from two sources: smoke that is exhaled by a nearby smoker (mainstream smoke) and smoke produced by a nearby smoldering cigarette (sidestream smoke).

According to the U.S. Surgeon General, there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke. If you can smell cigarette smoke, it could be harming your health.

E-Cigarettes

E-cigarettes (aka vapes) contain many of the same chemicals as their combustible counterparts, and then some.

In a CDC study, 99% of the tested e-cigarettes contained nicotine. And not in small amounts: According to e-cigarette maker Juul, just one of its cartridges contains as much nicotine as a pack of 20 cigarettes.

Furthermore, the liquid used in e-cigarettes, commonly known as "e-juice," contains many other flavorings and chemicals such as:

• Solvent carriers (propylene glycol and glycerol)
• Tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs)
• Aldehydes
• Metals
• Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
• Phenolic compounds
• Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)
• Tobacco alkaloids
  

If You're Still Smoking

It's never too late to start your journey to a smoke-free life. You'll be rewarded with benefits beyond what you can probably imagine—and they'll start to occur in as little as 20 minutes of your last cigarette, when your body begins healing.