|
This is what you'll find in cigarettes: ~ Formaldehyde, which embalmers use to preserve dead bodies;~ Toluene, which is commonly used as an ingredient in paint thinner; ~ Acetone, an active ingredient in nail polish remover; ~ Ammonia, which scientists have discovered lets you absorb more nicotine, keeping you hooked on smoking. And if you smoke, you also inhale arsenic, benzene, cadmium, hydrogen cyanide, lead, mercury and phonol. In all, 4 000 harmful chemicals, including 44 types of poison, of which 43 are proven cancer-causing substances. Bad business Life insurance companies charge smokers nearly double the amount they charge non-smokers for term assurance. Some tobacco companies also own shares in life assurance companies. What appears to be a good deal for tobacco companies is a bad deal for taxpayers: the health care costs caused directly by smoking, and the lost economic productivity, cost governments up to three times as much as the total earnings of the tobacco industry. Death Smokers are ten times more likely to suffer from lung cancer than non-smokers, three times more likely to have a stroke, and twice more likely to suffer a heart attack. Carbon monoxide in cigarettes deprives the heart of oxygen. Smoking can cause headaches, infertility, blood vessel disease, digestive problems, mouth and throat cancer, and blindness. Tobacco causes more deaths than those caused by all the wars of the past 100 years, including World Wars One and Two. More than
three million people die each year as a result of smoking. |
| Back |