What in cigarette smoke causes disease?
Cigarette smoke “tar” is made of several thousand solid chemicals, many of which have been implicated in disease. Among the chemicals in cigarette smoke are acids, glycerol, glycol, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons, phenols, and such corrosive gases as hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. Heart and circulatory disease, lung and other cancers, emphysemas and chronic bronchitis have been experimentally linked with certain of these substances. All these conditions are disabling and potentially lethal. 6. What is the effect of carbon monoxide (CO) in cigarette smoke? Carbon monoxide (CO), which makes up about 4% of the smoke of the average cigarette, has a stronger affinity for red blood cells than does oxygen-which red blood cells are meant to distribute to the body’s tissues. Thus, CO in smoke will replace the oxygen in red cells, forming carboxyhemoglobin (Cohb). On average, smokers have from 2.5% to 13.5% more Cohb in their blood than non-smokers. Whil
