What is inside a cigarette that causes cancer?
It’s not only cigarettes. It’s also cigars and what you put into pipes. The ingredients are dried tobacco leaves, which contain nicotine. Analysis shows that there are more than 4,000 different chemicals in these dried leaves and what has been added to enhance their flavour, including ammonia, tar, and carbon monoxide. 60 of these chemicals are known to cause cancer. They are called carcinogens. Don’t forget, even if you smoke low-tar cigarettes, the rest of the chemicals are still present. There are plenty of theories as to how cigarette smoke affects the organs in the body. One of the carcinogens, benzo(a)pyrene, damages DNA and mutates cells. Cigarette smoke also damages the lining of your lungs, including the cilia, which makes it more difficult to clear secretions and harmful substances. My daughter initially didn’t like her first cigarette, but now she says it’s difficult to stop. Why is this so? Is she addicted? Yes, she probably is addicted. Addiction means a repeated, compulsi
