December 11, 2009
Are There Any Safe Cigarettes
Where and when did cigarettes become popular? Today millions smoke, and of those thousands are trying to stop smoking. In the past we didn't know the dangers of smoking, and it became popular to smoke as soon as Europe first found out about it.
Tobacco was initially used by pre-Columbian Native Americans, who smoked it in pipes and even used it for hallucinogenic purposes in shamanic rituals. Christopher Columbus was given tobacco by natives and introduced it to Europe when he returned from North America.
However, tobacco did not become widely used in Europe until the middle of the 16th century, when explorers and diplomats such as France's Jean Nicot (for whom nicotine was named) popularized its use.
Tobacco was introduced to France in 1556, Portugal in 1558, Spain in 1559, and England in 1565.
Initially, tobacco was produced for pipe smoking, chewing and snuff. Cigarettes were made in a crude, hand-rolled form since the early 1600s, but did not become popular in America until after the civil war.
Cigarette sales surged with introduction of the cigarette rolling machine by James Bonsack in 1883, in a contest sponsored by tobacco company Allen and Ginter, who promised $75,000 to the first person to invent a fast cigarette-rolling machine. This facilitated industrialized production and widespread distribution of cigarettes.
Since then, nicotine addiction has become a public-health concern in virtually every nation on Earth.
Warnings about the health risks of smoking were muted until the 1950's and 1960's, when a series of unsuccessful lawsuits forced the issue into the public eye. Not until the 1990's would a lawsuit be won by the plaintiff. However, the American Surgeon General first demanded that warning labels be placed on cigarette packages started in 1966.
The next post is going to include a list of the dangerous chemicals found in cigarettes, a list which should encourage every smoker to quit smoking as soon as possible.
Both the tar and nicotine in cigarettes are toxins, each its own way; and that's without mentioning the poisonous substances such as arsenic used in the curing process. Nicotine is as addictive as heroin or cocaine, and has long-lasting effects on the brain's dopamine systems.
The "tar" which filters attempt to remove falls into four categories of substances: nitrosamines, widely held to be the most carcinogenic of all the agents in tobacco smoke; aldehydes, created by the burning of sugars and cellulose in tobacco; polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons which form in the cigarette behind the burning tip; and trace amounts of heavy metals from fertilizers used to grow the plant.
With all these poisons in each cigarette, why start to smoke? It's no wonder that in any given day there are thousands around the world try to stop smoking.
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