Tobacco Products

Cigars  |  Smokeless Tobacco  |  Nicotine Yield Ratings  |  Cigarette Ingredients

Cigars

• The carcinogens and cancer-producing chemicals found in cigarettes are also found in cigars.
• All tobacco users are 5-19 times more likely to get cancer of the mouth or throat than those who don't use.
• Cancer death rates among men who smoke cigars are 34% higher than among nonsmokers.
• ALL cigar smokers have 4-10 times the risk of dying from laryngeal, oral, and esophageal cancers than nonsmokers.
• Cigar smokers have three times the rate of lung cancer as nonsmokers.
• Cigar smokers are also more likely than nonsmokers to suffer from persistent coughs, phlegm, and an increased risk of peptic ulcers.
• Smoke toxins from cigars are as carcinogenic as toxins from cigarettes.
• Concentrations of tar and nicotine are much higher in cigars than cigarettes.
• Exposure to secondhand cigar smoke carries the same risks as exposure to secondhand cigarette smoke.
• Congress did not explicitly include cigars in the 1984 law requiring health warnings on cigarettes, so cigar packages bear no warning from the Surgeon General.

                                                                                                       --American Cancer Society

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Smokeless Tobacco

• Smokeless tobacco is NOT a safe alternative to smoking cigarettes.
• Smokeless tobacco includes BOTH chewing tobacco and snuff.
• The use of smokeless tobacco is considered to be a directly related cause of oral cancer and gum disease.
• Smokeless tobacco use CAN lead to dependence on nicotine.
• Smokeless tobacco users have displayed blood nicotine levels equivalent to those of cigarette smokers.
• If you dip, 2.0 mg. - 3.5 mg of nicotine per dip enters your bloodstream twice the dose delivered by a standard 1 mg cigarette.
• Users who consume 8 to 10 dips or chews per day (one-third-1/2 of a can of snuff or 1.3 - 1.2 of a pouch per day) receive a NICOTINE DOSE equal to that taken by a heavy cigarette smoker (30-40 cigarettes daily).
• A recent report indicates that users who went through two cans of snuff per week had a saliva nicotine level equal that of people smoking two packs of cigarettes per day.
• Nicotine and other harmful chemicals found in tobacco are NOT removed by spitting; they mix with saliva which, after contact with tissues of the mouth and throat, is absorbed through the oral mucous into the bloodstream.
• Smokeless tobacco users have a substantially increased risk of oral health disorders.
• Just a few months of dipping or chewing is often enough to cause development of white or red leathery patches (leukoplakia) on the gum or cheek where the tobacco is held.
• Leukoplakia is the first step down a path to dental problems, followed by severe gum inflammation and receding gums. This condition can be reversed and corrected, however, if you quit using smokeless tobacco and follow up with good dental care.
• Risk of cancer of the mouth increases, especially in parts of the mouth where the tobacco is placed.
• Health risk for oral cancers decreases once you discontinue use of smokeless tobacco products.

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Nicotine Yield Ratings

Why Publish Nicotine Ranges?

• Massachusetts is publishing the range of nicotine delivered by a cigarette under average smoking conditions whether high, moderate, low, or nicotine free. These ranges allow smokers to compare nicotine levels among brands, without misleading them about the actual amount of nicotine delivered through their own smoking patterns.
• The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) publishes for each cigarette brand a nicotine yield number as a result if testing performed by a smoking machine. Although the FTC developed this test to measure relative nicotine yields, many consumers believe that the classifications of cigarette brands based on the numbers published by the FTC accurately reflect he amount of nicotine or tar which they will receive from a given brand.
• Because of the difference in individual smoking patterns, no number is truly representative of the amount of nicotine any smoker will receive from a cigarette. Therefore, Massachusetts has developed ranges, which classify levels of nicotine relative to each other.
• The remaining 13 brands (15% of cigarettes tested) were rated moderate by MDPH standards. This suggests that virtually all cigarettes on the marketplace today deliver moderate to high doses of nicotine and maintain heavy dependence.
• Thirty-eight (38) more than half of the brands rated as high were 'ultra-light', 'light' or 'medium'.
• NO BRANDS TESTED FELL INTO THE LOW OR NICOTINE FREE CLASSIFICATION. The results of testing performed in accordance with MDPH regulations demonstrates the highly addictive potential of nearly all brands of cigarettes whether, full-flavor, 'light' or 'ultra-light.' Brands rated according to the FTC method as "low" in nicotine are shown to have significantly greater levels of nicotine and to be potentially more addictive than the FTC ratings would suggest.

High(>1.2 MG)

 
Moderate (>.2-1.2 MG)

Low (>.01-.2 MG)

Nicotine Free (<.01 MG)

The two brands smoked by over 85% of Massachusetts youth smokers deliver HIGH nicotine yield with their regular, 'light', and 'ultra-light' cigarettes.

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Cigarette Ingredients

There are over 4,000 chemicals in cigarette smoke, some of which are included on the list below. Children are especially susceptible to these poisons. For them, exposure to secondhand smoke can cause middle ear effusion, decreased lung function, lower respiratory tract infections and increase the intensity of asthma conditions.

 
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