Harmful chemicals found in Smokeless Tobacco
Smokeless tobacco is a mixture of tobacco, sugar, salt, other flavoring agents, abrasives and thousands of chemicals including 28 carcinogens!
Noteworthy:
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· Nitrosamines (potent cancer-causing agents - detected at levels as high as 100 times the level lawfully allowed in food products like bacon and beer)
· Formaldehyde (a favorite preservative of dead things in biology class)
· Cadmium (used in car batteries)
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· Polonium 210 (nuclear waste - radioactive agent)
· Arsenic (rat poison)
· Lead (the poisonous kind - banned from paint products)
· Cyanide (another poison - used in the gas chamber)
· Benzene (toxic liquid sometimes used as motor fuel additive - carcinogenic)
· + much more… |
It's hard to imagine how this chemical soup could do anything positive for your image.
Interestingly, the concentrations of the cancer causing chemicals in smokeless tobacco are much higher than in cigarette tobacco.
Nicotine
· main ingredient in smokeless tobacco
· in high concentrations, it is deadly - one pure drop can kill a person
· it's so lethal that it has been used as a pesticide for centuries
· highly addictive both physically and psychologically
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The amount in one dip or chew can deliver up to 5 times the amount found in one cigarette; for example:
2 tins/week of snuff = same nicotine as 1 ½ pack-a-day cigarette habit
(most youth report)
1 tin per day = 5 ¼ pack-a-day cigarette habit |
· same withdrawal symptoms - irritability, depression, headaches, sleep problems, cravings, appetite increase and stomach and intestinal disorders
· flavored tobacco products contain smaller amounts of nicotine to entice young people to try it but the addiction forces them to graduate to brands that deliver larger amounts
Once you dip:
· acts directly on the heart to increase the heart rate and blood pressure
· irregular heart beats common
· Constricts blood vessels which reduces circulation of oxygen-rich blood
· With increased workload to deliver oxygen, heart rate and blood pressure increases more
· Constricted blood vessels can slow your reaction time and cause dizziness
· nicotine once absorbed can reach the brain in a matter of seconds
· the nicotine molecule is shaped like a neurotransmitter (chemical messenger between nerve cells) called acetylcholine
· when nicotine gets into the brain, it attaches to acetylcholine receptors and mimics the actions of acetylcholine
· acetylcholine and its receptors are involved in many functions, including muscle movement, breathing, heart rate, learning and memory
· they also cause the release of other neurotransmitters and hormones that affect your mood, appetite, memory and more
· recently discovered that nicotine raises the levels of a neurotransmitter called dopamine in the parts of the brain that produce feelings of pleasure and reward
· our body naturally produces dopamine during exercise, which is why you feel good after a run
· unfortunately those who use tobacco quickly become dependent on 'feeding' their dopamine level just to feel normal
· dopamine is the same neurotransmitter that is involved in addictions to other drugs such as cocaine and heroin