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Assessment of major carcinogens and alkaloids in the tobacco and mainstream smoke of ussr cigarettes
Author(s) -
Djordjevic Mirjana V.,
Sigountos Claire W.,
Hoffmann Dietrich,
Brunnemann Klaus D.,
Kagan Mark R.,
Bush Lowell P.,
Safaev Radjab D.,
Belitsky Genady A.,
Zaridze David
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
international journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.475
H-Index - 234
eISSN - 1097-0215
pISSN - 0020-7136
DOI - 10.1002/ijc.2910470306
Subject(s) - sidestream smoke , nicotine , smoke , chemistry , carcinogen , cigarette smoke , tar (computing) , tobacco smoke , food science , nitrosamine , toxicology , biology , organic chemistry , neuroscience , computer science , programming language
Tobacco and mainstream smoke of USSR cigarettes were analyzed for carcinogens. The pH values of suspensions of the tobacco (5.4‐5.6) and the nitrate content of the tobaccos (0.4‐1.7%) were as expected for flue‐cured and sun‐cured tobaccos and mixtures thereof. The nicotine levels of the cigarette tobaccos (0.76‐0.94%) and total alkaloid content (0.85‐1.08%) were relatively low compared with tobaccos used in Western European and US cigarettes. The concentrations of tobacco‐specific N‐nitrosamines in the cigarette tobaccos were also low (N'‐nitrosonornicotine 0.36‐0.85 μg/g) compared with those in bright, oriental and blended cigarette tobaccos in Western countries (0.3‐19 μg/g). The 2 non‐filter and 4 filter cigarettes from the USSR had slow burning rates and yielded 14.0‐16.7 puffs/cigarette, while puff yields for commercial cigarettes in Western countries average ≤11 puffs/cigarette. Consequently, tar and benzo(a)pyrene yields in the smoke of all cigarettes as well as nitrosamine yields were high, especially in the smoke of the filter cigarettes. It appears that an increase in the burning rates of these cigarettes should lead to lower smoke yields.