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What are the health effects of smoking kreteks (clove cigarettes)?
Kreteks (pronounced kree-techs) are cigarettes imported from Indonesia that contain tobacco, cloves, and other additives. Kreteks are sometimes called “clove cigarettes.” Kreteks deliver more nicotine, carbon monoxide, and tar than conventional cigarettes.
Although no studies on the long-term health effects of kreteks have been conducted in the United States, research in Indonesia shows that regular kretek smokers have 13 to 20 times the risk for abnormal lung function compared with nonsmokers.
Resources:
Title: Bidis and Kreteks
Source: CDC
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/Factsheets/bidis_kreteks.htm
Title: NIDA Research Report Series: Nicotine Addiction
Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse
http://www.nida.nih.gov/ResearchReports/Nicotine/Nicotine.html
American Cancer Society Web Site: Questions About Smoking, Tobacco, and Health
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/content/PED_10_2x_Questions_About_Smoking_Tobacco_and_Health.asp
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What are the health effects of smoking bidis (bee-dees)?
Bidis (bee-dees) are small, thin, hand-rolled cigarettes imported primarily from India and other Southeast Asian countries. These cigarettes can be flavored (e.g., chocolate, cherry, and mango) or unflavored. They have higher concentrations of nicotine, tar, and carbon monoxide than conventional cigarettes sold in the United States.
No research studies on the health effects of bidis have been conducted in the United States. However, research studies from India indicate that bidi smoking increases the risk for cancers of the mouth, lung, stomach, and esophagus. These studies also show that bidi smoking is associated with a high risk for coronary heart disease and heart attack and an even higher risk for chronic bronchitis.
Resources:
Title: Bidis and Kreteks
Source: CDC http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/Factsheets/bidis_kreteks.htm
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What are the health effects of smoking cigars?
People who smoke cigars, particularly those who inhale, are at increased risk for respiratory problems, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Cigar smoking also increases the risk of death from several types of cancer, including cancers of the lung, lip, tongue, mouth, throat, esophagus (the tube connecting the mouth to the stomach), and larynx (voice box).
As with cigarettes, people exposed to secondhand smoke from cigars also are at risk for adverse health effects. Cigar smoke generally contains the same chemicals found in cigarette smoke, but in higher concentrations.
Resources:
Title: Cigars
Source: CDC
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/Factsheets/cigars.htm
Title: Questions and Answers About Cigar Smoking and Cancer
Source: National Cancer Institute
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Tobacco/cigars
American Cancer Society Web Site: Cigar Smoking
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/content/PED_10_2X_Cigar_Smoking.asp?sitearea=PED
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What ingredients are found in cigars?
Like cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, cigars contain nicotine, an addictive drug found naturally in tobacco. If a cigar smoker inhales, the nicotine is absorbed rapidly in the lungs. If a cigar smoker does not inhale, the nicotine is absorbed more slowly through the mucous membranes in the mouth.
Unlike cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products, cigars typically do not have additives included as flavoring agents. However, in addition to nicotine, cigars contain compounds found in all processed tobacco. Some of these compounds are found in the green tobacco leaf; others are formed when the tobacco is cured, fermented, or smoked. For example, cigar tobacco has a high concentration of nitrogen compounds. During fermentation and smoking, these compounds give off several tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs), which are potent cancer-causing agents. In fact, TSNA levels found in cigar smoke are much higher than those found in cigarette smoke.
Additionally, smoke from a cigar contains many of the same toxins found in environmental tobacco smoke (secondhand smoke) from cigarettes. These elements include ammonia, carbon monoxide, benzene, and hydrogen cyanide.
Resources:
Title: Cigars (fact sheet)
Source: CDC
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/Factsheets/cigars.htm
Title: NIDA Research Report Series: Nicotine Addiction
Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse
http://www.nida.nih.gov/ResearchReports/Nicotine/nicotine2.html#what
Title: Smoking and Tobacco Control Monograph 9--Cigars: Health Effects and Trends
Source: National Cancer Institute
http://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/tcrb/monographs/9/index.html
American Cancer Society Web Site: Cigar Smoking
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/content/PED_10_2X_Cigar_Smoking.asp?sitearea=PED
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What ingredients are found in cigarettes?
Nicotine is an addictive drug found naturally in tobacco. Other chemicals in tobacco plants may come from fertilizers or insecticides used in the growing process or from contaminants in air, soil, or water. Some chemicals are added when tobacco is cured; others are added in the manufacturing process.
Hundreds of ingredients are used in manufacturing cigarettes to make them more acceptable to the consumer. Additives make cigarettes milder and easier to inhale, improve taste, prolong burning, and increase shelf life. Laboratory analyses have shown that tobacco smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals. Of these, at least 250 are toxic and more than 60 are known carcinogens (cancer causing).
At this time, CDC does not provide a list of all chemicals found in tobacco smoke; however, the Smoking & Tobacco Use Web site does provide information about many of these substances.
Resources:
Title: Reducing Tobacco Use: Tobacco Products
Source: CDC
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/sgr/sgr_2000/highlights/highlight_tobacco.htm
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What ingredients are found in smokeless tobacco?
There are three types of smokeless tobacco products: chewing tobacco, dry snuff, and moist snuff. Chewing tobacco is made from tobacco leaves with the stems removed. Snuff is made from the tobacco leaf and stem. Sweeteners and flavorings are typically added to both products.
Like cigarettes and cigars, smokeless tobacco contains nicotine, an addictive drug found naturally in tobacco. An average dose of smokeless tobacco contains at least twice the amount of nicotine found in the average cigarette.
In addition to nicotine, smokeless tobacco contains tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs), which are potent cancer-causing agents. Studies indicate that snuff contains higher levels of TSNAs than chewing tobacco. Smokeless tobacco products also contain other toxic substances, such as polonium 210 and formaldehyde.
Other additives found in smokeless tobacco include salts, such as sodium carbonate and ammonium carbonate, and other abrasive matter that may wear the surface of the teeth. Some products contain microscopic abrasives, which speed the absorption of nicotine and carcinogens into the cell membranes.
Resources:
Title: Smokeless Tobacco
Source: CDC
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/Factsheets/smokeless_tobacco.htm
Title: Reducing Tobacco Use: A Report of the Surgeon General
Source: CDC
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/sgr/sgr_2000/index.htm
CDC Smoking & Tobacco Use Web Site: Tobacco Ingredient Reporting
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/tobacco_industry/reporting.htm
National Cancer Institute Web Site: Smokeless Tobacco
http://dccps.nci.nih.gov/tcrb/less_default.html
Title: Smoking and Tobacco Control Monograph 2: Smokeless Tobacco or Health: An International Perspective
Source: National Cancer Institute
http://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/tcrb/monographs/2/index.html
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What are "fire-safe" cigarettes?
Fire-safe or self-extinguishing cigarettes are cigarettes designed to stop burning if they are not puffed on regularly. Fire-safe cigarettes were developed to help prevent fires and fire-related injuries resulting from improper disposal of smoking materials. In the United States, smoking materials are the leading cause of fire-related deaths, accounting for more than one of every four fire deaths.
Resources:
Title: Annual Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Years of Potential Life Lost, and Productivity Losses--United States, 1997-2001
Source: CDC
http://iier.isciii.es/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5425a1.htm
Title: Fire Deaths and Injuries: Fact Sheet
Source: CDC
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/fire.htm
Title: The Smoking-Material Fire Problem
Source: National Fire Protection Association, Fire Analysis and Research Division
http://www.nfpa.org/assets/files//PDF/ossmoking.pdf
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Are “light” cigarettes and other reduced-risk tobacco products really safer to use?
According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), there is no convincing evidence that changes in cigarette design to create low-tar or low-nicotine cigarettes have benefited public health or stemmed the increase in lung cancer among older smokers. This includes low-yield cigarettes (“light” [or “lite”] and “ultra-light” cigarettes) and low-combustion and modified tobacco products. This finding was substantiated in the 2004 Surgeon General’s Report, The Health Consequences of Smoking.
The terms “light” (or “lite”) and “ultra-light” refer to cigarettes that deliver less tar or nicotine in standardized machine measurements. Cigarette brands that yield approximately 1 milligram to 6 milligrams of tar are generally called "ultra-light." Those with approximately 6 milligrams to 15 milligrams of tar are called "light," and brands yielding more than 15 milligrams of tar are called "regular" or "full flavor.”
Resources:
Title: The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General
Source: CDC
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/sgr/sgr_2004/index.htm
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids Web Site: "Safer" Cigarettes and Tobacco Products
http://tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/index.php?CategoryID=26
Title: Hope or Hazard?
Source: Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center. University of Minnesota
http://www.tturc.umn.edu/documents/hope_or_hazard-3.pdf
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