NIOSHTIC-2 Publications Search

Cadmium and nickel -- common characteristics of lettuce leaf and tobacco cigarette smoke.

Elia VJ; Menden EE; Petering HG

Environ Lett 1973 Oct-Dec; 4(4):317-324

https://doi.org/10.1080/00139307309435503

00190558

Cigarettes made from specially processed lettuce leaves have been offered as a substitute for tobacco leaf cigarettes. While these substitutes do not contain the nicotine which has concerned health advocates, they do contain other chemicals which may be harmful. The cigarettes were mechanically smoked on a Rotory Smoker which provided a 2 second puff per minute per cigarette and a 17.5 cubic centimeter per second flow volume to a 23 millimeter (mm) butt length. The smoke condensate was collected in acetone traps. The ash was collected in metal free 100 milliliter beakers. The lettuce cigarette was 65mm long and weighed 0.72 grams. The tobacco cigarette was 85mm long and weighed 1.12 grams. The results indicated that the amounts of cadmium (7440439) and nickel (7440020) in the lettuce leaf cigarette were comparable to those in a tobacco cigarette, but, on a weight basis, the levels of cadmium and nickel were higher in the lettuce cigarette. The metal levels in the sidestream smoke were 0.72 micrograms cadmium and 0.34 micrograms nickel per lettuce cigarette, or 80 percent of the total cadmium and 10 percent of the total nickel originally present in the smoked portion. Corresponding figures from tobacco cigarettes were 0.43 micrograms cadmium and 10.3 micrograms nickel, or 38 and 33 percent, respectively. Less than 3 percent of all of these metals were dispersed as part of the mainstream smoke. The ash contained 85 percent of the original zinc (7440666) with an estimated 5 percent or less being lost in the sidestream portion.

NIOSH-Publication; NIOSH-Grant; Reproductive-system-disorders; Cigarette-smoking; Tobacco-smoke; Environmental-contamination; Heavy-metals; Trace-metals;

Environmental Health Kettering Laboratory Eden & Bethesda Avenues Cincinnati, Ohio 45219

EVLTAX

7440-43-9; 7440-02-0; 7440-66-6;

19731001

Journal Article;

311966.00

Grant;

1974

Grant-Number-R01-OH-00337

4

0013-9300

Reproductive-system-disorders

Environmental Letters

OH;

University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio