Am I Free of Risk with Alternative Tobacco Products?

After hearing the news about his mom, Corey decided to try to quit smoking now. However, quitting was much harder than he thought. Each time he tried to quit, in the first few hours, Corey kept shaking and couldn’t concentrate. Sometimes he got very grumpy and irritable. When he smoked a cigarette, these symptoms went away. One day at school, Corey’s friend Michelle said, “Hey, you could try one of those new cigarettes that doesn’t have as much nicotine or Carcinogens, so you won’t be as addicted and you won’t be as likely to get cancer like your mom”. So Corey took Michelle’s advice and switched from his regulars to a reduced-nicotine cigarette.

Unfortunately for Corey, he kept smoking, and actually smoked more of the reduced-nicotine cigarettes compared to his regulars. Michelle pointed this out to him, and apologized, saying, “Gee, I had no idea that would happen. Why don’t you try using smokeless tobacco? At least you won’t be breathing in the smoke, that’s got to be better for you.” So again, Corey took her advice. He did switch to using smokeless tobacco and continued to use it for several years, but couldn’t quit the smokeless stuff either. The problem was that now he was receiving even more nicotine and level of carcinogens compared to when he was smoking.

Your third and final mission is to uncover why Corey would smoke more reduced-nicotine cigarettes compared to regulars, and why he would receive more harmful chemicals if he used the smokeless tobacco. Consult the Module 3 guide to answer the questions for Mission #3.

Try the experiment in question #1 to guide you in your quest for knowledge.