If you use tobacco, you are putting yourself up for the chance of cancer. The worst part of it is, you're choosing to do it. The longer you use tobacco products, the more chance you have of getting cancer. The specific type of cancer I want to talk about is lip cancer. This is what you can get from chewing tobacco. there are so many different kinds of chemicals in chewing tobacco. 28 is just the amount of cancer causing chemicals found in chew. These are just the most harmful chemicals that are added:
- Cadmium: used in car batteries
- Formaldehyde: embalming fluid
- Lead: a poison
- Nicotine: an addictive drug
- N-Nitrosamines: cancer-causing chemical
- Polonium 210: nuclear waste
- Acetaldehyde: irritant
- Hydrazine: toxic chemical
- Benzopyrene: cancer-causing chemical
- Uranium 235: used in nuclear weapons
- Sodium: salt, can cause high blood pressure
- Sugar: can cause cavities
- Fiberglass and Sand: abrasives
So, if you chew tobacco, you might want to stop and take a look at this list. Hopefully you will think, "Wow, they're putting embalming fluid, cancer causing products, and nuclear waste products in this little can, maybe I should stop because I'm setting myself up for risk of many types of cancer." Smokeless tobacco can cause oral, esophageal, and pancreatic cancer! Another type of cancer that can be found is leukoplakia, which is actually pre-cancerous white patches that can be found in the mouth. If you find yourself with any sort of warning sign, such as white patches in the mouth, contact your doctor immediately!
The pictures I'm going to post are some types of oral cancer from chewing tobacco:
The man pictured above is Gruen Von Behrens. He had oral cancer, and as you can see went though a very dramatic and emotional change to get rid of the cancer.
