1. Tobacco

2. What’s in a Tobacco Product?
The tobacco plant has grown naturally in this country for centuries.
But tobacco products are far from natural.
When tobacco is processed, the leaves of the tobacco plant are combined with hundreds of other ingredients called additives.

3. Additives
The chemicals that help keep the tobacco moist, help it to burn longer and taste better.
One example of an additive is ammonia. Ammonia is also found in urine and in cleaning products.

4. Other additives
Burning tobacco produces smoke that contains thousands of chemicals. One of these chemicals is benzene, which is known to cause cancer.
Other chemicals that are produced by the burning smoke are tar and carbon monoxide.
Carbon monoxide is a gas that enters the bloodstream and starves your body of oxygen.

5. Tar
Tar is a solid, sticky substance. When tar is inhaled, it coats the airways and lungs, blocking small air sacs.
Chronic bronchitis, lung cancer, and other lung diseases can eventually result from smoking.

6. Cigarettes: Effects Appear Early
You do not have to be a heavy or lifelong smoker to feel the harmful effects of cigarettes. The harm begins with the first puff, when nicotine enters the lungs.

7. Nicotine
a highly addictive drug that occurs naturally in the leaves of the tobacco plant. Some early effects of tobacco on your body are as follows:

8. Early effects of tobacco on your body
Nicotine travels from the lungs into the bloodstream and into the brain, where the nicotine raises the heart rate and blood pressure.
Skin, breath, hair, and clothing will immediately smell of smoke. And other people usually notice the odor first.
Most people feel nauseated and dizzy when they begin smoking because they are not used to the chemicals that enter their bloodstream and brain.

9. Effects continued:
Your senses of smell and taste usually suffer. As a result, foods no longer smell or taste the same.
Even light smokers report shortness of breath and increased coughing. Smokers are unable to run as long or as fast as they did before they started smoking.
Smokers are sick more frequently and stay sick longer.

10. Smokeless Tobacco Products
Tobacco products are not always smoked or burned.
Smokeless tobacco includes chewing tobacco and snuff.
Chewing tobacco is coarsely chopped tobacco leaves that contain flavorings and additives much like the tobacco in cigarettes.

11. Smokeless Tobacco Chewing tobacco is placed in the mouth and chewed.
Nicotine enters the blood- stream through the lining of the mouth.
Chewing creates brown-stained saliva that must be spit out often.
Snuff is also put in the mouth, but it is a flavored powder. It is placed between the cheek and gum.

12. Smokeless Tobacco
Snuff doesn’t need to be chewed for the nicotine to be absorbed into your body.
If saliva from either chewing tobacco or snuff is swallowed, the user can become very sick.
First-time users of these products often become nauseated and dizzy. Long-term effects include bad breath, yellowed teeth, and an increased risk of oral cancer.

13. Other Tobacco Products
pipe tobacco, cigars, and clove cigarettes are other common tobacco products that are smoked.
The way that tobacco in pipes and cigars is processed allows the nicotine to be absorbed more easily than the nicotine from cigarettes is.
Cigars can contain seven times more tar and four times more nicotine than cigarettes do.

14. Bidis unfiltered cigarettes that are wrapped in tobacco leaves.
Bidis are flavored to make them attractive to teens.
With their high levels of nicotine, tar, and carbon monoxide, bidis may be more dangerous to your health than cigarettes are.

15. Environmental Tobacco Smoke
Smoke that comes from the tip of a lit cigarette and the smoke that is exhaled from a smokers’ mouth are called environmental tobacco smoke, or ETS.
ETS is also called secondhand smoke. People who are around smokers breathe second-hand smoke and are sometimes called passive smokers.

16. ETS
Are the same chemicals that are found in the smoke inhaled by smokers are also found in ETS?
Yes, sometimes in higher concentrations.
Therefore, it is harmful to be near a person who is smoking even if you are not smoking.

17. ETS
Until recently, smoking was allowed in most public places, which exposed nonsmokers to ETS.
More laws are now in place to protect nonsmokers. These laws may differ from state to state.
Nonsmokers who breathe ETS are at risk for the same health problems that smokers are. And many of these nonsmokers will die each year from smoking- related illnesses.

18. Tobacco Products, Disease, and Death
Many of the effects of smoking can be reversed after a person quits.

19. Respiratory Problems
Shortness of breath and coughing are common signs of chronic respiratory disease which affects most smokers.
A chronic disease is a disease that, once developed, is always present and will not go away.
Two chronic respiratory diseases are chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

20. Respiratory Problems Respiratory Problems continued
Chronic bronchitis is a disease that causes the airways of the lungs to become irritated and swollen.
This irritation causes the person to produce a lot of mucus in the lungs.
As a result, the person coughs a lot.

21. Respiratory Problems
Emphysema destroys the tiny air sacs and the walls of the lung.
The holes in the air sacs cannot heal.
Eventually, the lung tissue dies, and the lungs can no longer work.

22. Respiratory Problems
Smoking causes most cases of chronic bronchitis and emphysema.
Death from heart failure follows.
Usually, the more cigarettes people smoke each day, the more serious the respiratory disease is.

23. Cardiovascular Disease
A disorder of the circulatory system.
This type of disorder includes high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke.
These diseases prevent organs and limbs from getting the amount of blood they need.
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for adults in the United States.

24. Cardiovascular Disease
Smoking also damages the inside lining of the arteries.
This damage allows solid material to build up inside the artery. Eventually, the artery becomes blocked.
When the arteries that supply oxygen to the heart become blocked, a heart attack results.

25. Cardiovascular Disease
A stroke results when the arteries that supply blood to the brain become blocked.
Blocked arteries that supply blood to limbs of the body can cause severe pain.
Sometimes, the need for an amputation, which is the surgical removal of an arm or leg, can result from blocked arteries that can no longer supply blood to the arms or legs.

26. Cancer Smoking causes cancer.
Cancer is a disease in which damaged cells grow out of control.
All tobacco products contain chemicals that cause cancer.
Smoking can cause cancer of the bladder, kidneys, throat, mouth, and lung.

27. Lung Cancer
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among both men and women who smoke.
Finding lung cancer early is difficult because it spreads very quickly.
Symptoms usually don't appear until the disease is advanced.
If a smoker quits, then the risk of cancer decreases. But it usually does not decrease to the level of someone who has never smoked.

28. Mouth Cancer
Smokeless tobacco causes cancers of the mouth, head, and neck.
A person that uses smokeless tobacco has a higher risk of getting mouth cancer than a cigarette smoker does.
Sores form in the mouth of one-half to three-quarters of smokeless tobacco users.

29. Mouth Cancer These sores may develop into cancer.
When the user quits, these sores can disappear.
The risk of oral, or mouth cancer depends on how long and how much smokeless tobacco was used.

30. Other Health Problems
The following list contains more reasons to avoid tobacco products.
Cigarette smokers catch the flu and colds more often. And they do not recover from them as quickly as nonsmokers do.
Smokers take longer to heal from wounds and surgeries than nonsmokers do.
All tobacco products increase the risk for gum and dental diseases.

31. Other Health Problems
Cigarette smoking has been associated with many eye diseases.
Smoking can cause premature signs of aging. Smoke has negative effects on certain tissues in the skin, which causes premature wrinkling.

32. Other Health Problems
Smoking is harmful to a fetus. When a pregnant woman smokes, she is more likely to have a miscarriage.
Babies born of mothers who smoked during pregnancy are often smaller and may suffer from health complications as well. These babies are also at a higher risk for sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS.

33. Social and Emotional Effects of Tobacco
There are other consequences for smoking than health problems. For example, lying to family or friends, feeling weak about giving in to peer pressure, and sneaking around to avoid getting caught are just a few of the problems that teen smokers face.

34. Breaking Rules Many states are writing new policies about tobacco use.
For example, it is against the law to sell tobacco products to anyone under the age of 18. New Jersey law is 19 to possess or buy.
Schools forbid smoking on school grounds and at school events.
Most parents have their own rules regarding tobacco products.

35. Social Strain
When the use of tobacco causes awkward or risky situations and creates tension among family and friends.
It is difficult for both parents and children to watch a loved one increase his or her chances of dying from a deadly disease. It is especially hard when that disease could have been prevented in the first place.
Social strain also arises when pressure is placed on people to use tobacco even if they do not want to.

36. Forming a Tobacco Addiction

37. Nicotine: The Addictive Drug
Nicotine is a poisonous substance.
After a person puffs on a cigarette, nicotine goes from the lungs into the bloodstream. It only takes seconds for the nicotine to reach the brain.
Once in the brain, nicotine attaches to special structures on nerve cells.
These structures are called receptors.

38. Nicotine
When nicotine attaches to these receptors, chemical messages are sent throughout the body.
These messages cause your heart to beat faster and your blood pressure to rise.
One way the brain responds to nicotine is by increasing the number of nicotine receptors in the brain.
Therefore, tobacco users need more nicotine to fill these receptors.

39. Addiction
The body gradually becomes used to the nicotine and cannot feel normal without it.
This is because using nicotine causes an addiction.
Addiction is a condition in which a person can no longer control his or her need or desire for a drug.

40. Addiction The more a substance is used, the more it is needed.
People who try cigarettes are more likely to become addicted than people who try alcohol, cocaine, or heroin are.

41. Tolerance, Dependence, and Withdrawal
Most long-time smokers smoke more cigarettes than beginning smokers do. This is because they have developed a tolerance to nicotine.
Tolerance is a condition in which a user needs more of a drug to get the same effect. So, long-time smokers experience smaller and smaller effects, even with more cigarettes.

42. Dependence
As tolerance develops, smokers begin to feel more normal when using nicotine than when not using it.
This is called physical dependence.
Physical dependence on a drug is when the user relies on the drug to feel normal.

43. Dependence A person can also be psychologically dependent on a drug.
People who rely on tobacco products as an emotional crutch are psychologically dependent.

44. Withdrawal
If tobacco users have to go for a very long time without nicotine, they begin to feel sick, nervous, and irritable.
These symptoms are examples of withdrawal.
Withdrawal is the way in which the body responds when a dependent person stops using a drug.

45. Withdrawal
Withdrawal is the sign that a person has become physically dependent on tobacco products.
Withdrawal usually includes uncomfortable physical and psychological symptoms.
A major reason that it is hard for long- time smokers to quit smoking is the discomfort of withdrawal.

46. Why People Use Tobacco
Pressure from friends is one of the main reasons teens begin to smoke. Having to say no to your friends is very difficult to do. In this lesson, you will learn about different influences on teens and why some teens eventually give in to smoking.

47. Influence from Others
One of the most powerful forces comes from your peers.
Peers are people of about the same age as you with whom you interact every day.
Peer pressure is the feeling that you should do something because your friends want you to.

48. Peer Pressure
Influence from peers is one of the main reasons that teens first try cigarettes.
Most teens smoke because they want to be accepted by their peers.
And they want to experiment with an “Adult activity.”

49. Sadly, most teens do not think they will become addicted.
Nor do teenagers believe that they will have any serious tobacco-related health problems.
Studies show that most teen smokers wish they could quit. And quitting is just as difficult for adolescent smokers as it is for adult smokers. Because adolescents are still growing and developing, they can seriously hurt their bodies by smoking.

50. The Power of Advertising
Tobacco companies spend nearly $1.5 million an hour to advertise their products.
Ads often use targeted marketing.
Targeted marketing is advertising aimed at a particular group of people.
Teenagers, sports fans, and outdoor enthusiasts are especially good targets.

51. Advertising
The ads make the companies’ products and brands appealing to people in these groups.
For example, most cigarette ads show very attractive people doing something very exciting while smoking their brand of cigarettes.
Laws have been passed to ban tobacco advertising on TV, on billboards, and in certain magazines.

52. Feeling Tempted
Peer pressure, family members who smoke, advertising, TV, and movies all influence your attitude about smoking. The movies and TV often make smoking look very glamorous.
But remember, once people are addicted, the glamour of smoking quickly fades. Most smokers develop a nasty cough. And their clothes, hair, and breath smell of smoke.

53. Quitting
Most people who use tobacco products wish they didn’t. Every year, about 70 percent of adult smokers say they want to quit. Of the 41 percent of all adult smokers who try to quit, only about 4-5 percent of them are successful. By age 18, about two-thirds of teens who smoke say they regret having started smoking.

54. It’s Tough to Quit
The younger a person is when they quit, the more that person’s body can recover. Often, quitting takes several attempts.
Once tobacco users quit using tobacco, withdrawal begins.
They get headaches, become dizzy, have trouble sleeping, and get depressed. Withdrawal symptoms make it difficult to stay tobacco free.

55. Quitting
Some people crave tobacco products years after they’ve quit. But quitting has major health benefits even if the person is already sick with a smoking-related disease.

56. Tools That Can Help
Some of the tools that can help people who want to stop smoking:
Support groups and counseling programs can provide encouragement for people who want to quit using tobacco.
Nonprescription nicotine replacement therapy, or NRT, is a safe medicine that delivers a small amount of nicotine to the body.

57. NRT
Many withdrawal symptoms are caused by a lack of nicotine in the body, so NRT was developed to help ease the symptoms. Nonprescription NRT is available as nicotine gum, patches, and lozenges.

58. Tools
Prescription NRT can also help a person quit smoking. The latest prescription nicotine replacement therapies are nicotine inhalers and nicotine nasal sprays.
Prescription medications that block nicotine’s actions in the brain are also helping people quit smoking.

59. Tools
Sometimes, a combination of more than one method will work. For example, some people may use the nicotine patch while going to a support group. The nicotine patch can help with the physical addiction.

60. Relaxing Without Tobacco
Hanging out with friends and enjoying life is much easier with- out tobacco. It’s hard to relax and have fun when you know that you’re breaking the law, becoming addicted to nicotine, and damaging your health as well as the health of others around you.

61. Relaxing Without Tobacco
Many everyday activities, such as playing sports, going to the movies, or shopping at the mall become a hassle when you’re a tobacco user. Smokers often worry about what they will do in situations in which they can’t smoke. It is difficult to travel on trains, buses, or planes now that smoking has been banned on them.

62. Relaxing Without Tobacco
Being addicted to nicotine means that if you don’t get your nicotine fix you don’t feel right. And that can be quite a problem. There are many times when you can’t light up a cigarette or take a dip of snuff.

63. Finding Healthy Habits
Many teens are first offered tobacco during middle and high school. Many of these teens will try it, get hooked, and ultimately die because of it.
Understanding the dangers of tobacco and being prepared to refuse tobacco are the best ways to ensure a healthy life.

64. Choosing Not to Use Tobacco

65. Refusing Tobacco
Learning to say no can be a valuable tool. Your response could be a simple “No” or “no, thanks.” Or you could reply, “smoking is too dangerous-especially if my parents find out!”
Whichever way you decide to handle the situation, don’t feel that you have to explain why you refused or make excuses. And even if you’ve accepted tobacco in the past, you can still say no this time.

66. Peer Pressure
Positive peer pressure influences you to do something that benefits you. It is easier to stay tobacco free if none of your friends smoke.
If your friends try to get you to smoke, they are using negative peer pressure. Negative peer pressure can harm you if you let it.

67. A Tobacco-Free Life If you have never used tobacco, don’t start!
It is very easy to become addicted to nicotine. In fact, it is easier to become addicted to tobacco than to most other drugs.
Using tobacco is deadly. Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States.

68. A Tobacco-Free Life
Tobacco makes your skin, hair, breath, and clothing smell bad. It also makes your teeth yellow.
Tobacco in any form is expensive, and it is getting more expensive every day.Make a healthy choice to stay tobacco free. You won’t regret it!