What is Commerical Tobacco?
Commercial tobacco is tobacco that has been altered or "manufactured" with additives and chemicals, in the form of cigarettes and chewing tobacco to be sold to the public.

Commercial Tobacco Facts

• Commercial tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals.
• More than 40 chemicals are known to cause cancer in humans.
• Some of the chemicals found in commercial tobacco smoke are: rat poison, mercury, butane, cadmium and ammonia.
• The top three chemicals in commercial tobacco smoke are: carbon monoxide, tar and nicotine.
  

What is Secondhand Smoke?
It is the smoke that comes directly off the burning end of cigars, cigarettes, pipes and it is also the smoke that is exhaled by a smoker.

Secondhand smoke is also known as

• Tobacco smoke
• Cigar smoke
• Cigarette smoke
• Pipe smoke
• Environmental tobacco smoke

It is also the smoke that is exhaled by a smoker.

Who is At Risk of Secondhand Smoke?
Everyone exposed to secondhand smoke, especially fetuses, infants and children. The poisons in the secondhand smoke can harm the lungs of children that are still developing.

Facts and Statistics
According the the U.S. Surgeon General's Report:

• Smoking kills 440,000 people each year
• Men who smoke cut their lives short by 13.2 years
• Females who smoke lose 14.5 years of their life.

Among the five major ethnic populations, adult smoking prevalence is highest among American Indians/Alaskan Native's (40.8%), followed by African American (24.3%), non-Hispanic whites (24.3%), Hispanics (18.1%), and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (15.1%) (MMWR, 2001).

Smoking rates among American Indians/Alaskan Native's vary by region. The AI/AN smoking rates are highest in the Northern Plains (44.1%) and Alaska (39.0%) and lowest in the Southwest (21.2%) (MMWR, August 2003).

The 1997-2000 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System states (demonstrates or shows) that 35.6% AI/AN men smoked cigarettes compared with 24.1% of non-AI/AN men. Cigarette smoking rates for AI/AN women was 28.7% compared with 20.6% among non-AI/AN women (Denny, Holtzman, Cobb, 2003).

The harmful health effects of commercial tobacco
Per notification in May 2004, the U.S. Surgeon General's Report reveals for the first time that smoking causes diseases in nearly every organ of the body.

Cigarette smoking is linked to diseases such as leukemia, cataracts and pneumonia, as well as:

• Lung cancer
• Other cancers of the cervix, kidney, pancreas and stomach
• Heart disease
• Nasal cancer
• Stroke

Tobacco Industry Influence
The tobacco industry targets American Indian/Alaskan Natives by funding or sponsoring cultural events such as pow wows and rodeos, to build its image and credibility in the community.

Tobacco companies use of American Indian cultural symbols and designs such as "warriors" to target American Indian and Alaska Native populations to buy their brand of tobacco.

American Spirit cigarettes are promoted as "natural" cigarettes, however they have more tar and nicotine than other brands of cigarettes.