Health Effects of Smoking
Cigarette smoking causes serious disease and is addictive
When a cigarette is lit, the tobacco burns and creates smoke. Incigarette smoke more than 8,000 chemicals or “smoke constituents”
have been identified. Public-health authorities have classified
approximately 100 of them as causes or potential causes ofsmoking-related diseases such as lung cancer, cardiovasculardisease, and emphysema. These constituents include among others
arsenic, benzene, benzo[a]pyrene, carbon monoxide, heavy metals(e.g. lead, cadmium), hydrogen cyanide, and tobacco -specificnitrosamines.

Are all cigarettes harmful and addictive?
Yes, all cigarettes are harmful and addictive. Although there are avariety of cigarette brands available on the market w ith different
features (e.g., the cigarette blend style, diameter, length, as well astar, nicotine, or carbon monoxide yields), smokers should notassume that any of these features means that one cigarette is lessharmful or less addictive than another.
While it can be very difficult to quit smoking cigarettes, millions ofsmokers have succeeded in doing so.

Tar, Nicotine, and Carbon-Monoxide Yields
Tar

Tar is the residue of particles that are contained in cigarette smoke.
It is not a single chemical, but instead a mixture of several thousandsmoke constituents. Tar is measured under laboratory conditions bytrapping the particles on a filter and then subtracting water andnicotine.
Nicotine
Nicotine is a naturally occurring chemical in the tobacco pla nt.
When tobacco is burned, nicotine is transferred into the smoke.
Nicotine, while addictive, is not the primary cause of smoking related diseases.
Carbon Monoxide
Carbon monoxide is a gas that is formed in cigarette smoke. Carbonmonoxide has been identified as a leading cause of cardiovasculardisease (heart disease) in smokers.
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Secondhand Smoke
Secondhand smoke, also known as environmental tobacco smoke(ETS), is a combination of the smoke produced from the lit end of acigarette and the smoke exhaled by smokers.
Public health authorities, including the WHO, have concluded that
secondhand smoke causes diseases, including lung cancer and heartdisease, in nonsmoking adults, as well as conditions in children suchas asthma, respiratory infections, cough, wheezing, otitis media(middle ear infection), and sudden infant death syndrome. Inaddition, public health officials have concluded that secondhand
smoke can exacerbate adult asthma and cause eye, throat, andnasal irritation.
The public should be informed about these conclusions and guided
by them in deciding whether to be in places where secondhand
smoke is present or, if they are smokers, when and where to smoke
around others. Smokers should not smoke around children orpregnant women.
Some cigarettes available on the market contain smoke-related
features, such as reduced smoke odor or reduced visible smoke.
These features do not mean that the product is less harmful tosmokers or nonsmokers than other cigarettes.

Smoking and Pregnancy
Pregnant women should not smoke and should not use any othernicotine products.
According to public health authorities, women who smoke before or
during pregnancy are at increased risk for:

premature births, pregnancy complications, and still births
having low birth weight babies. Low birth weight babies are at
greater risk for childhood and adult illnesses and even death .
babies suffering sudden infant death syndrome
babies having reduced lung function
If you are pregnant, or think you may be, do not smoke.