Monday, December 13, 2010

7000 Chemicals

Several days ago, the Surgeon General's office issued a report which stated that one cigarette can damage a person's DNA.  The report went on to say that one whiff of secondhand smoke can be enough to trigger a heart attack.
The primary cause for these results is due to 7000 chemicals and compounds to be found in each cigarette.  70 of these chemicals and compounds are known to cause cancer while the remainder are toxic.
The two preceding paragraphs have me perplexed.  Where to begin?
Shouldn't there be some perspective on the probability of  suffering damage to one's DNA from smoking one cigarette?  Ditto for the chances of the one whiff scare?  Is this a failure to be more explicit the fault of the Surgeon General's office or is it the failure of journalism to fully report on the findings? 
7000 chemicals and compounds in one cigarette?  Who knew? Wouldn't this make a  carton of cigarettes a candidate for an EPA superfund cleanup?  Do you know of any other object or place that has that many toxic chemicals and compounds in it?
Another question.  How many of those chemicals and compounds were put in the tobacco by God and how many by man?
If the cancer causing agents are put in tobacco by the manufacturer of cigarettes, is this legal?  If it is legal, should it be?
Is this what is meant by "Better living through chemistry"?
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