Some smokers have a misunderstanding about additives in cigarettes and what makes cigarettes so deadly. That’s not surprising since tobacco manufacturers advertise their cigarettes in ways to make them seem safer. Cigarettes are highly designed drug delivery systems. There is no such thing as a safe cigarette, cigar or cigarillo. Low tar and low nicotine cigarettes are marketed as safer but they are just as deadly as traditional cigarettes. The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids published a report in 2014 that details how tobacco companies design cigarettes to make the smoke smoother, less harsh and to create and sustain addiction without regard to the health impact on the smoker.

Nicotine is a chemical in tobacco that causes addiction, but it is not cancer causing. Chemicals in tobacco smoke are the problem. Cigarette smoke contains approximately 7,000 chemicals including arsenic, lead, formaldehyde and ammonia. Because these chemicals are in the smoke and are not added to the cigarette, “additive-free” cigarettes are not any safer than traditional cigarettes. Tobacco companies add certain con-tents to some cigarettes to make them smoother tasting, more addictive and easier to inhale. Menthol is added to some cigarettes to cool and numb the throat to reduce irritation to make the smoke feel smoother. Flavorings like chocolate and licorice hide the harshness of the smoke and make the products appealing. Sugars are added to make the smoke easier to inhale and this forms a cancer causing substance called acetaldehyde, which increases nicotine’s addictive effect. Adding ammonia compounds increases the speed in which nicotine hits the brain.

Tobacco specific nitrosamines (TSNAs) are an important group of cancer causing chemicals in tobacco products, especially cigarettes, snus and snuff. They are formed from nicotine and other compounds during the curing and processing of tobacco. Levels of TSNAs vary by product. Nitrosamine levels are directly related to the risk of cancer. Levels of TSNAs have increased significantly in American cigarettes in recent years.

A by-product of combustion is carbon monoxide. This tasteless, poisonous gas is created by smoking a cigarette and is in the lungs of smokers. Carbon monoxide contributes to heart disease and increases the risk of blood clots and stroke.

Ventilated filters contain holes which cause the smoker to inhale more vigorously, drawing carcinogens more deeply into the lungs. While ventilated filters produced lower levels of tar and nicotine in machine tests, smokers seems to inhale more deeply, longer and more frequently while smoking cigarettes with ventilated holes, making these cigarettes more dangerous than testing showed. Tobacco industry documents revealed that the companies were aware of the difference between machine testing yields of tar and nicotine and what the smoker actually inhaled.

Smoking kills 480, 000 Americans each year and contributes to tobacco related illnesses that cause disabilities in many Americans who use tobacco products. For more information on how to quit tobacco, call the Ohio Tobacco Quitline at 1-800-784-8669 or the Clermont County Public Health Tobacco Cessation Program at (513) 735-8400.

Denise Franer RN, TTS

Denise is a public health nurse at Clermont County Public Health and a Tobacco Treatment Specialist.

dfraner@clermontcountyohio.gov