What am I Inhaling?
(for smokers smoking outdoors)

Use this form to calculate how much of 39 chemicals you may be inhaling from your cigarette when you smoke outside.  

(You'll need Internet Explorer 3 or above to use this page.)

Chemical Name:     Ammonia 2-Aminonaphthalene 1-Aminonaphthalene 4-Aminobiphenyl 3-Aminobiphenyl Benzo(a)pyrene Formaldehyde Acetaldehyde Acetone Acrolein Propionaldehyde Crotonaldehyde Methyl ethyl ketone Butyraldehyde Hydrogen Cyanide Mercury Nickel Lead Cadmium Chromium Nitric Oxide Pyridine Quinoline Hydroquinone Resorcinol Catechol Phenol Cresol Tar Nicotine Carbon Monoxide 1,3-Butadiene Isoprene Acrylonitrile Benzene Toluene Styrene NNN NNK NAT

Number of cigarettes you smoke:         

The amount of the chemical you've inhaled directly from your cigarettes: micrograms (or nanograms*).

The following is a description of the chemical you've selected and its effects on your body:

*1-aminonaphthalene, 2-aminonaphthalene, 3-aminobiphenyl, 4-aminobiphenyl, benzo[a]pyrene, mercury, nickel, lead, cadmium, chromium, resorcinal, NNN, NNK and NAT are all listed in nanograms. The presence of these chemicals at the amounts found in tobacco smoke remains an important health hazard.

The hazardous nature of each chemical is usually based on studies involving healthy adult male workers, not females or children.

Children are particularly susceptible to damage from hazardous chemicals, since their bodies are still growing, and their breathing rate is much faster compared with that of an adult.

The average of each mainstream smoke chemical amount over all intense-tested cigarettes (taken from a recent report by the Government of British Columbia, 1998) was determined for use in the above calculations. Intense testing of cigarettes involves covering the holes in the filters of cigarettes, which more closely mirrors the reality of smokers, who often cover filter holes with their mouth or fingers.