Q: What's in a cigarette?
A: A lot besides tobacco. In fact, the smoke produced by a burning cigarette contains over 4,000 chemicals. Of these, 50 are carcinogens (chemicals that cause cancer).
Q: What do cigarettes do to the body?
A: Besides being a factor in developing cancer, and lung and heart disease, cigarettes have other effects. The carbon monoxide absorbed by the body from one cigarette stays in the blood for as long as six hours. This means the heart has to work harder to supply the body with enough oxygen.
Q: Any other effects in the body?
A: Cigarette smoke contains tiny solid particles called tar. When smoke is inhaled, tar is also inhaled and it can interfere with the lungs. This is partly why smoking can lead to a shortness of breath. Tar is also a big reason why cigarettes can cause lung cancer.
Q: What are the effects on people who have recently started smoking?
A: Smoking tobacco produces feelings of pleasure and relaxation. It also causes the heart to beat faster and blood pressure to rise. New smokers can experience a dry and irritated throat, coughing and dizziness.
Q: What about people who have smoked for a long time?
A: Besides causing cancer of the lung, throat, stomach, bladder, kidney and pancreas, long-term smoking can lead to heart disease, strokes and aneurysms. It can also cause breathing problems like emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
Q: Why is so hard to quit smoking?
A: One of the main ingredients in tobacco is nicotine, which is a drug. In fact, it is a highly addictive drug that smokers crave. That makes it hard to stop smoking and leads to withdrawal symptoms when people do try to quit. Typical reactions in smokers trying to quit are crankiness, sleeping problems, increased appetite and problems paying attention.
Q: Is it easier to quit if you smoke lighter cigarettes?
A: No. Light cigarettes deliver as much tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide as regular cigarettes, and much more than manufacturers claim. Research shows that smoking light cigarettes instead of regular cigarettes does not make any difference in the risk of developing heart disease.
Q: Is it easier to quit if you started smoking later in life?
A: Quitting is hard no matter when you started smoking. Some research does suggest that smokers who started in their teens, especially their early teens, have a harder time quitting than smokers who started after they were 20 years old.
Q: Are clove cigarettes safer than ordinary cigarettes?
A: No way. The major ingredient in clove cigarettes is still tobacco. Clove cigarettes might smell better, but don't let the smell fool you. In fact, clove cigarettes contain almost twice as much tar and nicotine as ordinary cigarettes.
Q: Is chewing tobacco safer than smoking?
A: Chewing tobacco might mean your clothes smell a little better, but it also means you have to spit a lot more often. Besides that, chewing tobacco still contains nicotine. Whatever form it takes, nicotine is addictive. Chewing tobacco also causes cancer.
Q: What are the effects of smoking during pregnancy?
A: Newborn babies of mothers who smoked while pregnant often have low birth weight, are shorter in length and have a small head circumference. Some studies link smoking during pregnancy with miscarriages and stillbirths. Other studies suggest that smoking during pregnancy can lead to the child having learning and behaviour problems.
Q: What effect does cigarette smoke have on non-smokers?
A: You've probably heard of second-hand smoke. The term refers to tobacco smoke from burning cigarettes and exhaling smokers. Second-hand smoke stays in the air and gets breathed by everyone around a smoker. Even non-smokers who breathe this second-hand smoke have an increased risk of developing lung cancer and heart disease. In fact, more than 300 non-smokers in Canada die each year from lung cancer caused by breathing someone else's smoke.
Q: How many deaths are related to tobacco smoking?
A: More than 47,000 Canadians die each year from tobacco-related diseases, including about 3,400 Albertans.
