Smoke, not nicotine, causes death – expert

OTTAWA: A public health expert clarified that smoke, not nicotine, causes thousands of deaths among cigarette smokers each day.

“There have been many decades of research on the health effects of cigarette smoking, and we have known since at least the 1970s that the primary cause of the cancers, heart and lung diseases is the repeated inhalation of smoke,” said Prof. David Sweanor, chairman of the advisory board of the Center for Health Law, Policy and Ethics at the University of Ottawa.