Tobacco
General Information
Cigarettes, cigars, and spit and pipe tobacco are made from dried tobacco leaves, as well as ingredients added for flavor and other reasons. More than 4,000 different chemicals have been found in tobacco and tobacco smoke. Among these are more than 60 chemicals that are known to cause cancer called carcinogens.
Many substances are added to cigarettes by manufacturers; some of the compounds found in tobacco smoke include ammonia, tar, and carbon monoxide. Exactly what effects these substances have on health is unknown, but there is no evidence that lowering the tar content of a cigarette lowers the health risk.
Source: The American Cancer Society
Although quitting using tobacco in any form has many benefits, if you aren’t ready to quit, you can begin by cutting down gradually. You decide when you are ready to quit or cut down.
Quitting
Want to quit smoking? Call 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669) or visit quitlinenc.com.
The Quitline offers FREE nicotine replacement therapy for North Carolina residents. If you are an Elon student calling from an out of state phone number, ask to be transferred to a North Carolina quit coach, and you can receive FREE nicotine replacement therapy.
QuitlineNC provides free, private, one-on-one support to help quit tobacco for good. QuitlineNC pairs smokers with an experienced Quit Coach, someone who know what works and what doesn’t. Coaches are friendly, professionally trained, and available from 8 a.m. to 3 a.m. seven days a week.
Or visit becomeanex.org
Benefits of Quitting
According to the U.S. Surgeon General there are many benefits of quitting smoking and the health benefits start right away. This is true for people who already have a smoking-related disease as well as those who don’t.
- Former smokers live longer than people who keep smoking.
- Quitting lowers the risk of lung cancer, other cancers, heart attack, stroke, and chronic lung diseases, such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
- Women who stop smoking before they get pregnant, or even during the first 3 to 4 months of pregnancy, reduce their risk of having a low birth-weight baby to the same as women who never smoked.
- The health benefits of quitting smoking are far greater than any risks from the weight gain or any emotional or psychological problems that may follow quitting.