One thing to remember is the anti-tobacco industry may have more money than the tobacco industry now - they've definitely got better PR. Most of those chemical lists are misleading at best, it makes it seem like they drain corpses and toss car batteries into chewing tobacco. "Battery Acid" is really sulfuric acid and it's found in a ton of stuff naturally. It's the sulfur that adds the stink to garlic and sulfur compounds are also responsible for reacting with your tears to create sulfuric acid when you cut onions. "Embalming fluid" is a double whammy, not only does it sound like an industrial chemical additive but it also makes you think about death. Really they probably mean formaldehyde which is a natural byproduct of combustion and is also found in volatile compounds in many plants - including tobacco as well as red wine. Nearly all the chemicals listed are produced naturally by the tobacco plant and are not added separately (and for those who prefer their tobaccy of the whacky variety, marijuana has many similar chemicals), are found in the paper you roll a cigarette in, are in levels barely detectable and not really relevant compared to the overall carcinogenic effect of smoking ANYTHING, or require you to smoke the filter as well (a safety feature missing on most marijuana products). This isn't to say quitting isn't a good thing to do, tobacco products still have an extremely high health risk-to-benefit ratio. But unfortunately you now have to weed through the misinformation on both sides if you want to look for the facts.
