Smoking Every day in Britain, about 300 people die early because of smoking. Smoking causes many diseases like lung cancer, bronchitis and coronary heart disease. Cigarette smoke contains over 4000 chemicals many of them are harmful to the body. The three most harmful ingredients in cigarette smoke are nicotine, carbon monoxide and tar.
Healthy blood carries lots of oxygen.
This means the blood can't do its job properly and this can lead to heart disease and other health problems. This means that your body starts to need it. When someone smokes a cigarette, the nicotine goes straight into the bloodstream. Nicotine affects the body in many ways but one is that it makes the heart beat faster than it should and puts strain on it. TAR is a black, sticky liquid like that used in road surfacing.