Why is smoking so harmful to my health?

Over 40 chemicals found in cigarette smoke are known carcinogens - that's 40 good reasons to give up smoking now

For most smokers, the tobacco smoke is more dangerous to their health than the nicotine. Long-term inhalation of tobacco smoke exposes every cell of your body to powerful chemicals that can cause cancer and cell mutations, and that ultimately cause tobacco-related illnesses. Tobacco smoke from cigarettes, cigars and pipes contains over 4,000 chemical compounds and breathable, suspended particles. Some of the chemicals present in tobacco smoke have been proven to cause cancer and increase the risk of birth defects. These include ammonia, arsenic, benzene, cadmium, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, lead, mercury, naphthalene, urethane and a variety of nitrosamines (potent human carcinogens). Formaldehyde, ammonia, urethane, and naphthalene are contained in household products with labels telling you to avoid inhaling them.

There are also radioactive chemicals in tobacco smoke, like polonium-210. So far, over 40 chemicals have been found in tobacco smoke that are known human carcinogens. This means that these chemicals have been proven to cause cancer not only in laboratory animals, but also in people. These chemicals make smoking such high risk to the health of any smoker.