Chemical Sources

FACT: The tobacco industry adds chemicals like the ones listed below to make cigarettes more addictive, easier to smoke, and better tasting. A puff of cigarette smoke contains over 7,000 chemicals.

Toluene (found in paint thinners)

Formaldehyde (used to preserve dead bodies)

Benzene (found in gasoline)

Hydrazine (found in rocket fuel)

Cadmium (found in batteries)

Methanol (found in antifreeze)

Urea (found in urine)

Ammonia (found in cleaning supplies)

SOURCE: SUMMARY OF DATA ON UREA. Legacy Tobacco Documents Library. American Tobacco. April 17, 1986. Bates No.: 980365694/5705

URL: http://www.legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/fjk51a00

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS). (2010). A Report of the Surgeon General: How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease: What It Means to You (Consumer Booklet). Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health.

URL: http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/sgr/2010/consumer_booklet/pdfs/consumer.pdf

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). (2000). Methanol.

URL: http://www.epa.gov/airtoxics/hlthef/methanol.html#ref1

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). (1997). Toxicological Profile for Hydrazines. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

URL: http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/ToxProfiles/tp100.pdf

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS). (2010). How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease - The Biology And Behavioral Basis For Smoking-Attributable Disease: A Report Of The Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health.