First-hand Smoke- What is it?

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First-hand smoke is what you might think it would be: smoke that affects the smoker. This is the "smoke" (including the carcinogens, nicotine, and additives) that the smoker inhales and infiltrates his or her body.

Second-hand Smoke?

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Second-hand smoke, recently termed "environmental tobacco smoke," is the "smoke" exposure that smokers and non-smokers receive from the burning and consumption of a cigarette, pipe, or cigar. The second-hand "smoke" consists not only of the nuisance portion from the smoke itself, but also contains carcinogens (cancer causing agents), nicotine (drug), and carbon monoxide (poison). While the former is what most people complain about- for instance, the smell that lingers on their clothes after leaving a bar, it is the latter that is dangerous, even deadly.
  • The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that second-hand smoke causes 3,000 lung cancer DEATHS among non-smokers each years.
  • A recent study from the New England Journal of Medicine concluded that a non-smoker's risk of heart disease increases by 25% with exposure to second-hand smoke.
  • Non-smokers subjected to second-hand smoke are exposed to: nicotine, carbon monoxide and carcinogens (cancer causing agents.)
  • Non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke exclusively at work have been found to have significantly higher level of nicotine metabolite in their blood than those with no work-place exposure.

What's in a cigarette?

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image from smokefreeforsyth.org
While most of us would answer the Jeopardy question with: What is paper, tobacco, filter and, maybe, glue, the truth is far more complicated. Below is a partial list of cigarette ingredients. Click here to view a complete list of the 599 ingredients in a single cigarette.

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