The tobacco industry, in the centuries after John Rolfe planted the first commercial tobacco crop in Virginia in 1612, has hybridized and engineered the product found in cigarettes and cigars to deliver maximum amounts of the addictive compound, nicotine, as well as more than 7,000 chemicals that are released into the mouth, airway and lungs. Of these, more than 70 are known carcinogens.
Every time you inhale cigarette smoke, you’re breathing in chemicals like arsenic, formaldehyde, vinyl chloride, hydrogen cyanide, ammonia, cadmium, chromium and carbon monoxide.
According to a Wired magazine article, it doesn’t stop there. On the FDA list of compounds in cigarette smoke is polonium-210 and two isotopes of uranium, all radioactive elements that vary from cigarette to cigarette, depending on the soil where the crop was grown. These compounds can build up in the lungs over time, making cigarette smoking one of the most common causes of radiation exposure in the world. This exposure may be related to our risk of developing lung and other cancers over time.
Smoking And Cancer: It’s More Than Just Your Lungs
While lung cancer is the leading and most readily identified cancer linked to smoking, it’s far from the only type of cancer you’re at risk for. Smokers have an increased risk of a wide range of cancers, according to Cancer.org, including:
● Mouth cancer
● Lip, nose, and sinus cancer
● Larynx (voice box) cancer
● Pharynx (throat) cancer
● Esophageal cancer
● Stomach cancer
● Pancreatic cancer
● Kidney cancer
● Liver cancer
● Bladder cancer
● Uterine and cervical cancer
● Colorectal cancers
● Ovarian cancer
● Acute myeloid leukemia