Cigarette smoke contains more than 4,000 chemical compounds, including 60 that can cause cancer. Many toxic agents are also in cigarettes, some of which are manufactured during the smoking process itself. A lighted cigarette generates more than 150 billion tar particles per cubic inch, making up the visible portion of cigarette smoke. According to chemists at R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, cigarette smoke is 10,000 times more concentrated than the automobile pollution at rush hour on a freeway. Visible smoke, however, contributes only 5 percent to 8 percent to the total output of a cigarette. What you can't see are the so-called vapors or gases in the cigarette smoke. Besides nitrogen and oxygen, the vapor contains toxic gases such as carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, acrolein, hydrogen cyanide, and nitrogen oxides. There are countless more.

The carcinogens in cigarette smoke include:

Acrolein, 4-Aminobiphenyl, Aromatic Amines, Aromatic Nitrohydrocarbons, Arsenic, Benzene, Benz{a}anthracene, Benzo{a}pyrene, Benzo {b}fluoranthene, Benzo {c}phenanthrene, Benzo{e}pyrene, Benzo{j}fluoranthene, Cadmium, Chromium, Chrysene, Dibenz{a,j}acridine, Dibenz{a,c}anthracene, Dibenz{a,h}acridine, Dibenzo{a,h}pyrene, Dibenzo{a,i}pyrene, Dibenzo{c,g}carbazole, Dichlorostilbene, 4-Ethycatechol, Formaldehyde, Hydrazine, Indeno{1,2,3-cd}pyrene, Methylchrysene, Mehtylfluoranthene, Mehtylnaphtalenes, 1-Methylindoles, 3-Methycatechol, 4-Methycatechol, 4-Methycatechol, 4(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-butanone, 2-Naphthylamine, Nickel, Nitropropane, Nitrosodimethylamine, Nitrosoethymethylamine, Nitrosodiethylamine, Nitrosodi-n-propylamine, Nitrosodi-n-butylamine, Nitrosopyrrolidine, Nitrosopiperidine, Nitrosomorpholine, N'-Nitrosonornicotine, N'-Nitrosoanabasine, N'-Nitrosoanatabine, Polonium-210 (Radon), Urethane, Vinyl Chloride.

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External Source US Surgeon General Reports, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)

This article was reviewed and updated June 2007.