(NaturalNews) Cigarette filters may look like harmless cotton bound up in a tight little roll surrounded by yellow paper, but filters are specifically designed and manufactured with a plastic called cellulose acetate, used to accumulate smoke components and toxic chemicals. First of all, nicotine cannot be delivered in its pure form to the smoker, since it is among the deadliest of all insecticides, so this insidious plastic is used to absorb some of the lethal vapors and also to prevent tobacco from entering the smoker's mouth. Nobody would smoke if their teeth turned brown after one pack. Lastly, the filter serves as a mouthpiece that won't collapse. That's the good news.
The bad news is that the vapors from the plastic are more detrimental to the body than all of the other 3,999 chemicals in a cigarette. Other materials have been tried, tested, surveyed and manipulated, but all are rejected in favor of the "roasty toasty" flavor acetate produces. In fact, some research shows that the MAIN REASON for cigarette manufacturers continued use of cellulose acetate IS THE TASTE. Tobacco companies spend millions, even billions, researching the best filters.
On top of all that bad news, a polyvinyl acetate emulsion is used as the glue that seams the wrapper. Add to the equation carpet glue from the new "fire safe" cigarettes and you're guaranteed to be inhaling fumes from burning plastic with every puff. And now, thanks to indoor smoking bans, millions more cigarette butts are accumulating outside of buildings and thus polluting the environment even more. Cigarette butts accumulate because they do not disintegrate for up to 15 years. If one person smokes a pack and a half a day, he/she will consume more than 10,000 cigarettes in just one year. This number of filters would fill five liters. Worldwide annual consumption of cigarettes leaves enough filters around the earth to fill nearly three billion liters. In Australia, cigarette butts account for 50 percent of all litter.
Photo film plastic is burning holes in your lungs
Three broad types of materials are used for making photo film: cellulose nitrate, cellulose acetates, and polyester. These materials have been used as a "base" or support for negatives, positive transparencies, microfilm, and many other photographic products. Both cellulose nitrate and cellulose acetates are unstable, which means their degradation poses serious health and safety hazards. (http://www.nedcc.org/resources/leaflets/5Photographs/01ShortGuide.php)Better known as cellulose acetate "tow fibers," at least 95 percent of commercial cigarette filters are made this way. The white fibers are thinner than sewing thread, and when packed tight in a little bundle, resembles cotton. But if a cigarette filter was simply made of cotton, and you threw it in the street or the grass, it would be gone after a couple good rain storms. (http://www.longwood.edu/cleanva/ciglitterarticle.htm)
It all started back in 1952, when a company called Eastman, now a leading global manufacturer of acetate, introduced the "acetate tow" to the commercial cigarette industry. These "tows" are also used for fiber-tip pens. (http://www.eastman.com/Markets/Tobacco/Pages/Introduction.aspx)
That awful, uneasy feeling drives the next "nic" fit
That awful, uneasy feeling that you get from smoking plastic is what drives the need for a fix of nicotine, which is only the temporary relief (like aspirin) from a chemically induced cigarette "hangover." (http://www.naturalnews.com/036175_smoking_addiction_hangover.html)It's a three for one deal now, ever since the late 1960s, when two icons of Big Tobacco, Marlboro & Kool, started adding ammonia to the plastic and nicotine, and the combo works so well that 45 million smokers (that's one in every five adults) in the United States are completely hooked. (http://www.rkmc.com/Minnesota_Tobacco_Litigation_Case_Result.htm)
The CDC analyzed the 2010 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data to describe U.S. adult smokers' interest in quitting and found that over 68 percent of current smokers want to stop smoking, at least 52 percent made a "quit attempt" in the past year, and only about six percent successfully quit in the past year. (http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fast_facts/)
But the CDC language shows that government "scare tactics" don't really offer realistic ways to help smokers quit, all they offer is scary advertising, which is proven to fail miserably (less than five percent success rate). (http://www.everydayhealth.com)
Zero U.S. regulations on cigarette "lethality"
If you look at the label of a bottle of whiskey or wine, you will see what is called "alcohol by volume" and "proof" indicators, so you know how much you're getting and can (hopefully) regulate how much and how fast you drink what you CHOOSE to drink. Yet, somehow, with cigarettes, there's no indication of how much nicotine you are getting, not to mention how much ammonia and plastic is used to juice up the kick and the taste. Where are the regulations? (http://www.pmi.com)The last time I checked, nicotine was WAY more addictive than alcohol, and caused far worse short and long term health implications. If someone were to eat 10 cigarette butts out of a dare, they would die of a nicotine overdose.
Cellulose acetate may absorb a large proportion of the harmful components of tobacco smoke, but the end result is chemical addiction for smokers, beyond just nicotine. (http://www.springerlink.com/content/j1n44512356x0313/) Imagine for a moment if smokers all walked around referring to their habit this way, "We're going outside to smoke some ammonia and photo film, care to join us?" Would you still partake? Would you ask if it was "menthol" photo film, or if it was your favorite brand of ammonia? What if everyone said that it gets rid of your nervousness, your anxiety, your headache, and STRESS? Would you be tempted, even if you weren't a smoker? I don't think kids at school would think it was so cool anymore.
There are many programs, patches, hypnotherapy, and even e-cigs (electronic cigarettes) that serve as a way out of the commercial "plastic" smoking madness, but most people, if given the chance to change their habit in any way, would prefer to just go cold turkey when the "time is right." The only problem is that the time never "seems right." Since the U.S. government does NOT HELP smokers quit with their horror stories, you might try to be realistic about it and use a positive approach, or pass along the cure to your friend, spouse, co-worker or neighbor who speaks of quitting.
14AndOut helps smokers "get out" in 14 days or fewer
The Health Ranger recommends 14AndOut, an organic, all natural, holistic method for quitting, which covers chemical addiction, behavior modification and unlike most other programs, covers a nutritional segment, with a compilation of advice from top naturopaths and world famous nutritionists. Nutrition is the key component to remaining positive while quitting and ultimately staying smoke free for life. (http://premium.naturalnews.tv/14AndOut__TV.htm)Sources for this article include:
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fast_facts/
http://www.cdc.gov
http://premium.naturalnews.tv/14AndOut__TV.htm
http://www.nedcc.org/resources/leaflets/5Photographs/01ShortGuide.php
http://www.longwood.edu/cleanva/cigbuttfilters.htm
http://www.springerlink.com/content/j1n44512356x0313/
http://www.eastman.com/Markets/Tobacco/Pages/Introduction.aspx
http://www.pmi.com
http://www.everydayhealth.com
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