Tar in a Jar Fact Sheet

Tar is a term that describes a collection of solid particles that smokers inhale when they light a cigarette. It is a mixture of lots of chemicals, many of which can cause cancer. When it settles, tar forms a sticky, brown residue that can stain smokers’ teeth, fingers and lungs.

About 70% of the tar inhaled coats the lining of lungs which are made up of thousands of tiny air sacs. So a pack a day smoker’s lungs collect about a mug full of tar every year. The tar is the cocktail of over 60 cancer-causing chemicals. The constant coating of the lungs with tar causes irritation and infection and results in ‘smokers’ cough’. Over years of smoking the lungs can develop chronic lung diseases such as bronchitis and emphysema.

So what happens to all the tar taken into the lungs? A lot of the particles in the tar will stay in the lungs and become embedded in the lung tissue. Non-smoker's lungs are pink compared to blackened smoker's lungs. Lungs are like giant sponges and they can absorb a lot of tar. If you dip a clean pink sponge into thick black engine oil and then squeeze it out you could remove some of the oil but not all. The sponge will stay black and oily. Unfortunately, you cannot squeeze out the lungs! Over time some of the tar will be removed in the following ways:

1) Some of the tar will be coughed up or removed from the lungs by the little hairs or the cilia. The tar will be swallowed and passes through the digestive system. It is toxic and can lead to stomach ulcers and cancer of the stomach, intestines and bowels.

2) Some of the tar and the chemicals is absorbed from the lungs into the blood stream. The cancer-causing chemicals from the tar which are in the bloodstream then increase the risk of cancer in all parts of the body. The liver will eventually break down some of the toxins and others are excreted by the kidneys and will collect in the bladder dissolved in urine. Smokers have higher rates of kidney cancer, bladder cancer and even cancer of the penis.

The higher the concentration of tar in the body the higher the risk of cancer most exposed to the tar. Those parts with the greatest concentration of tar have highest risk - mouth, throat and lungs.

Here is a link to an interesting You Tube video showing an experiment to extract tar from 400 cigarettes. it is then heated to remove the water. It shows the thick black sticky tar. Also look at some of the other You Tube films on tar.

Because tar is listed on packs, it is easy to believe that it is the only harmful part of cigarettes. But some of the most dangerous chemicals in tobacco smoke are present as gases, and do not count as part of tar. This means that cigarettes that have less tar still contain all the other toxic chemicals.

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http://www.gasp.org.uk/p-smokers-tar-in-a-jar.htm
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