About cigarette additives

It appears that I do have something to say everyday and then some. I am trying to keep a list but of course each day I will probably add a new idea.. oh well, one topic is all I can handle with regard to time.

My daytime job isn't in health and wellness but in tobacco treatment and education. I have come to realize that when I explain to any audience the process by which a cigarette comes to emit 4000 chemicals I am both clouding the issue and playing into the tobacco manufacturers hands. How could this be?! Ah, they are so much better at spin then the mere mortals of public health.

You see it works like this. Nicotine is the naturally occurring alkaloid in the tobacco plant. It is the compound that keeps people smoking. It is toxic and sedating, but in the cigarette, pipe, cigar, hookah, chew or dip, it is less so and the user builds a tolerance to it. In other words, they only feel sick the first few times they use it. In other forms, nicotine can kill bugs and fell an elephant.

When growing tobacco other chemicals are absorbed in the plant just as they are with crops in general. The most significant and dangerous chemicals are the tobacco specific nitrosamines (TSNAs) that appear to be created during the curing method.

So far so good, so to speak. However, when the tobacco is further processed at tobacco factories, companies add as much as 600 more chemicals. They add some to make the nicotine more potent and others to make the smoke more palatable (menthol). Now telling people that the tobacco companies add all these chemicals really gets their attention. It seems even more powerful then telling them about the carcinogens created in the tobacco barn.

The rest of the chemicals are created by pyrolysis, or the intense heat and combustion of the lit cigarette. In that smoke are 4000 chemicals. Now breathing ANY smoke from ANY source is harmful. The most harm for smokers is from carbon monoxide (gas created in the lighting), nicotine, and Tar. Tar is the total residue of those chemicals and it is found in the lungs of smokers. Most of the harmful chemicals again, are the TSNAs.

We have two marketing tactics now. One is the American Spirit which is said to be all natural and the other is the Winston which is highly promoted as additive free.

Here are my final words. There is no FDA/USDA legal definition of all natural. It is subjective. I tell my classes that mushrooms are all natural too, but some will kill you dead just the same. And in my opinion a natural cigarette would not be wrapped in paper.

Unfortunately, we have some work to do about the additive free label. The additives are the least of the smokers problems. Nicotine is not "added" nor are the cancer causing agents. These deadly chemicals are "created". But smokers hear the message and think if they switch to a cigarette without additives then they can smoke them without risk of harm to themselves. That is not okay and actually the tobacco companies just lost a lawsuit on false claims about low tar and light cigarettes so they might want to rethink this.

There is NO such thing as a safe tobacco product... period. BTW, they ain't cheap either!