Tobacco and Public Health - TCSC Indonesia

82
THE CHANGING CIGARETTE: CHEMICAL STUDIES AND BIOASSAYS
Table 4.11 documents the decline of tar levels, from 29.8 mg to 24.3 mg in the years
between 1959 and 1984, while nicotine levels fell from 2.4 mg to 1.6 mg between 1959
and 1977. Since then, the smoke yields of tar and nicotine for this non-filter brand
have not changed. Carbon monoxide has remained stable at 16–18 mg/cigarette
since it was first reported in 1981. By 1997, it was clear that significant changes in the
smoke yields of the major lung carcinogens BaP and NNK have occurred since 1977,
in that BaP levels declined from 49 ng to 19 ng but NNK increased from 120 ng to
195 ng/non-filter cigarette.
It is important to note that we are lacking analytical data regarding the levels of these
major carcinogens and toxins in the MS of leading cellulose acetate filter-tipped
cigarettes with and without filter perforation, as well as in the MS of charcoal filter
cigarettes. These cellulose acetate filter cigarettes were actually the ones dominating the
US cigarette market as the use of cigarettes faded over the years and charcoal-filter
cigarettes had only a modest market share. Most importantly, we are also lacking data
on biological activities of the tars of leading brands of filter cigarettes produced since
the 1960s, because tumorigenicity and carcinogenicity of tars have not been monitored
on a regular basis. There is now also an urgent need for analytical profiles of the toxic
and carcinogenic MS constituents that are generated under conditions reflecting
the puff drawing profiles actually exhibited by humans who smoke these cigarettes
with lower yields as per FTC measurements. Such analytical data would have to
be established for major US cigarette brands manufactured since 1960. They would
Table 4.11 Tar, nicotine, CO, BaP, and NNK in the mainstream smoke of a leading US
non-filter cigarette, 1959–1997 a
Year Tar (mg) Nicotine (mg) Carbon monoxide b (mg) BaP (ng) NNK b (ng)
1959 29.8 2.4 40
1967 27.2 1.6 49
1971 29.0 1.8 22
1977 26.0 1.59 19 120
1981 24.3 1.52 16.7 19 130
1988 24 1.5 16 19 140
1991 25 1.7 16 18 190
1997 26 1.7 18 19 195
CO, carbon monoxide; NNK, 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone; BaP, benzo(a)pyrene.
aThe analytical data were generated by smoking the leading US non-filter cigarette according to the FTC-mandated
standard machine smoking method (Pillsbury et al. 1969).
bThe open fields document the lack of analytical data for the years 1959, 1967, 1971, and 1977 for CO and for
1959, 1967, and 1971 for NNK.
From Wynder and Hoffmann (1960), Federal Trade Commission (1971, 1977, 1981, 1988, 1991, 1997), Hoffmann
and Hoffmann (1997).