15 - Alcohol and Tobacco: Recreational Toxins

Abstract

This chapter addresses the toxic effects of mixtures of two recreational toxins, ethanol and tobacco. Ethanol and tobacco are used recreationally worldwide by millions of people. Ethanol is a single compound with well-known toxic effects. It, however, combines with other environmental toxicants to produce toxic effects that often are not predictable. It should be noted that the toxic effects induced by both ethanol and tobacco smoke can be entirely prevented by the cessation of their use. This cannot be said for other toxins that permeate our environment. Finally, it should be noted that many deleterious effects of alcohol, tobacco, and mixtures containing these are being discovered and remain to be discovered at this time. There is a substantial volume of information that describes unanticipated toxic effects of ethanol and tobacco when used in conjunction with other toxicants. That information is the subject of this chapter. When mixed with other chemicals, tobacco and tobacco smoke have been shown to produce synergistic toxic effects. When combined with each other, ethanol and tobacco produce highly toxic mixtures that attack the respiratory, gastrointestinal, and immunological systems in man with toxic and carcinogenic effects.