Everyone knows smoking is bad for you, but most people don’t actually know what their smoking. There’s a staggering 4,800 chemicals in a single cigarette and not many people take the time to look into the ingredients. Almost everything in cigarettes is toxic or carcinogenic to the body. Many people are actually unaware of what they’re smoking, and a new study wants to help.

A study published in the medical journal BMC Public Health argues that making cigarette information, like full ingredient lists, would help a lot of people quit smoking. If people knew the real dangers of smoking, they would be a lot less inclined to do it.

Most people do want this information readily accessible, but surprisingly a large group of smokers who seemed like they wouldn’t care to research it, like young adults, actually were more likely to look for the information.

In the study, 5,014 adults over the age of 18 were surveyed. They specifically people living in poverty because of the higher percentage of tobacco use. They found that about 27.5% of people had looked for information on the chemicals that cause cancer in cigarettes.

The research showed that most of the smokers didn’t actually know what cigarette smoke consists of, funnily enough.

Some of the main chemicals include nicotine, tar, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide and arsenic. Just to name a few.

This is mind blowing so many people around the world will sacrifice their health to feel temporarily calm after smoking.

It is clear smoking cigarettes is a result of the design of our world. We are constantly stressed, busy and carry a lot of responsibilities that we’d just like a break from. Smoking creates that break, that temporary relief that is so addictive.

We have lost connection to each other and the Earth, and numb ourselves with substances we know will eventually kill us.

If you smoke, do you know exactly what you’re inhaling?

For a comprehensive list of ingredients go here.

H/T: Medical Daily