Cigarette alternatives like smokeless tobacco, cigars and pipes can have negative health effects.
Cigarette smoking has been linked to lung cancer, heart disease and many respiratory problems. Some people turn to alternatives to cigarettes in the form of smokeless tobacco and snuff. Others smoke pipes and cigars. But all come with their own health risks.
Nicotine Effects
Nicotine, a naturally occurring stimulant in tobacco, can be poisonous if taken in sufficiently high doses, which is not the amount of nicotine absorbed by tobacco use. Nicotine is an addictive substance that makes the user feel alert at first, then relaxed with continued use. Nicotine raises the heart rate, particularly in new users, lowers skin temperature and decreases blood flow to extremities. This increase risks of heart disease and stroke.
Dangers of Smoke
All forms of tobacco smoke are dangerous because of the host of chemicals found in it and their impact on the human body. Smoke includes tar, which has thousands of chemicals, including ones known to cause cancer. Other chemicals found in tobacco smoke include cyanide, benzene, formaldehyde, methanol, acetylene, ammonia, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide.
Secondhand smoke is a constant danger for people around a smoker. Nonsmokers may inhale the same chemicals from secondhand smoke as they would were they smoking tobacco themselves.
Smokeless Tobacco
Smokeless tobacco is finely ground or shredded so it can be used as snuff or placed between the cheek and gum. Larger tobacco leaves can also be chewed. While smokeless tobacco is not burned, it still contains the same harmful elements, including 28 chemicals known to cause cancer. In fact, because the tobacco is directly exposed to the soft tissue of the mouth or mucous membranes of the nose, it poses a greater risk of developing oral cancer.
The National Cancer Institute and other public health organizations have published extensive data on the dangers of smokeless tobacco.
Cigars and Pipes
Some people think that smoking cigars and pipes is safer than smoking cigarettes because the smoke is not inhaled directly by the user. Cigar and pipe smoking are still dangerous, however. Even though pipe and cigar tobacco has fewer additives than cigarettes, cancer-causing agents and other dangerous chemicals are still found in the smoke. This smoke enters the smoker's mouth unfiltered, which exposes the mouth to greater concentrations of these chemicals, leading to an increased risk of lip, mouth and throat cancer.
Additionally, the secondhand smoke from pipe and cigar tobacco is just as dangerous as that of cigarettes, which is inhaled by the smoker and the people around him or her.
Tags: cause cancer, chemicals found, cigar tobacco, Cigars Pipes, heart disease