What’s Really in Tobacco?

You wouldn’t roll up rat poison, rocket fuel, embalming fluid, bug killer, and toilet cleaner and smoke it on purpose, would you? But those are some of the very gross things you put to your lips every time you smoke a cigarette. Seriously. Cigarette smoke contains more than 4,000 types of chemicals, and at least 43 of them are known to cause cancer.

Here is a list of just some of the chemicals found in tobacco smoke.

Chemical	Commonly Found In
Acetone	Nail polish remover
Ammonia	Toilet cleaner
Arsenic	Poison
Benzene	Gasoline
Butane	Lighter fluid
Cadmium	Batteries
Carbon monoxide	Car exhaust
DDT/Dieldrin	Insecticide
Formaldehyde	Embalming fluid
Hexamine	Lighter fluid
Hydrogen cyanide	Rat and insect poison
Methane	Sewer gas
Methanol	Rocket fuel
Naphthalene	Mothballs
Nicotine	Bug killer
Stearic acid	Candle wax
Toluene	Industrial solvent
Vinyl chloride	Plastic pipes

And if you use spit tobacco don’t think you’re off the hook—additives and chemicals are in all tobacco products, including cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, cigars, and pipe tobacco. Yuck! Not only do these chemicals hurt you from the inside out, the smoke harms others who are around you.