Cancer Causing Agents: Tobacco & Nicotine

Smoking is the single largest cause of cancer worldwide and accounts for one in four cancer deaths in the United States. Smoking is known to cause around eighty percent of lung cancer in svijetu.1996 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse showed that about 62 million people in the United States over 12 years or below 29 percent of the population are current cigarette smokers. So, it makes nicotine, the addictive component of tobacco, one of the most heavily used addictive drugs in the United States. In the United States, tobacco use is responsible for nearly 1 in 5 deaths, or about 438,000 premature deaths each year from 1997 to 2001 and thus, smoking kills five times more people than traffic accidents, drug overdoses, murder, suicide and HIV all put together .

Nicotine: Many people believe that nicotine causes cancer, but the fact is that it only leads to addiction. Whenever a person inhales cigarette smoke, the nicotine present in smoke is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream and affect the brain is shown within 7 seconds. In the brain, nicotine activates the same reward system as well as others, such as cocaine or amphetamine, although to a lesser extent. Nicotine acts on this reward system and is believed to be responsible for drug-induced feeling of pleasure and, over time. It also increases alertness and enhances mental performance. Studies show that nicotine itself may not be harmful. However, when combined with other harmful substances such as areca nut, catechu cause cancer substitutes like Gambier and magnesium carbonate, on May show harmful effects.

Besides nicotine, cigarette smoke contains around 4,000 different compounds, many of which can cause cancer. In fact, contains about 70 different carcinogens or carcinogenic substances. When you inhale smoke, these chemicals enter the lungs and spread around the rest of your body. Scientists have shown that these chemicals are mutagenic and can damage DNA and alter the expression of different genes that can lead to cancer by making your cells grow and multiply uncontrollably. No wonder, smoking is a major cause of lung cancer, and is also associated with increased risk for cancers of the mouth, nasal cavity (nose), larynx (voice box), pharynx (throat), esophagus (swallowing tube), stomach, liver, pancreas , kidney, bladder, cervix, and acute myeloid leukemia.

Oral tobacco contains 28 known cancer-causing substances (carcinogens). Chewing tobacco is a known cause of oral cancer and to women's health in Southeast Asia (WHOSEA), almost half of all cancer cases in men and one quarter of all cancer cases in women in India are believed to be tobacco related.

Not all smokers get cancer,: Years of research have shown that smoking causes cancer, but that does not mean that all smokers will certainly get cancer or that all non-smokers will not. This means that smoking greatly increases the risk of cancer and smokers are, on average, more likely to get cancer than nonsmokers.