Medically reviewed in September 2021
In addition to highly addictive nicotine, cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals. Here's what you're inhaling with each puff:
- Arsenic (rat poison)
- Ammonia (poisonous; present in many household cleaners)
- Acetone (fingernail-polish remover)
- Benzene (industrial solvent)
- Carbon monoxide (exhaust-pipe fumes)
- Cadmium (used in rechargeable batteries)
- Cyanide (poison used in gas chambers)
- DDT (insecticide)
- Formaldehyde (embalming fluid)
- Lead (a poison removed from nearly all paints)
- Mercury (highly poisonous; easily absorbed through respiration)
- Nickel (poisonous; a known cancer-causing agent)
- Hydrogen cyanide (deadly poison used in gas chambers)
- Hydrogen sulfide (sewer gas)
- Polonium-210 (radioactive substance)
- More than 50 cancer-causing agents (carcinogens)
And, of course, nicotine, which isn't just addictive, it's a natural insecticide (it protects the tobacco plant from bugs) and in its pure form is a deadly poison -- one drop could kill a human in minutes.
