U.S. cigarettes highest in carcinogens
ATLANTA — Some U.S. cigarette brands expose people to higher amounts of cancer-causing tobacco-specific nitrosamines than some foreign cigarettes, officials said.
The study involved 126 people from Australia, Canada, Britain and the United States who smoked cigarette brands popular in each country.
The chemicals from the cigarette butts collected from each smoker over a 24-hour period were analyzed. In addition, urine samples were taken from the study participants.
The study, published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention, found a correlation between the amount of one tobacco-specific nitrosamines — a carcinogen — that enters the mouth and the amount of its breakdown product that appears in the urine.
“We know that cigarettes from around the world vary in cigs ingredients and the way they are produced,” Dr. Jim Pirkle, deputy director for science at CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health, division of laboratory sciences, said in a statement.
“All of these cigarettes contain harmful levels of carcinogens, but these findings show that amounts of tobacco-specific nitrosamines differ from country to country and U.S. cigarette brands are the highest in the study.”
June 1, 2010 upi.com