Effectiveness of a new device to retain carcinogenic compounds of tar from mainstream cigarette smoke for the prevention of smoking-associated tumors.

PURPOSE

Effectiveness of a new device inserted within the common cellulose acetate cigarette filter (named hypobaric chamber tar-removing system, HCTRS) to remove tar and its carcinogenic compounds from mainstream cigarette smoke (MCS).

METHODS

Eighty HCTRS prototypes were mounted inside the cellulose acetate filter of commercial-brand cigarettes (13 mg tar) and smoked by eighty smoker volunteers. Tar retained by HCTRS prototypes was determined by weighing them before and after smoking. Subsequently, an aliquot (3-5 mg) of the tar retained by twenty randomly chosen HCTRS prototypes was analysed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for the detection of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH).

RESULTS

The mean value of tar retained was 12.80 mg/HCTRS prototype (S.D. = 5.31), thus showing that this simple device is capable of removing 98.5% of tar present in MCS. Minimal and maximal amounts of retained tar were 4.15 and 31.47 mg/HCTRS prototype, respectively. Moreover, these tar samples contained, although in differing amounts, each of the 16 priority pollutant PAH. A mean value of 259.42 ng/mg of tar (S.E.M. = 44.37) of the 16 main PAH was found in the tar of the 20 HCTRS prototypes examined. These data cogently demonstrate that the use of the HCTRS prototype can effectively eliminate about 100% of tar from MCS, thus reducing the inhalation of PAH (considered the most obvious carcinogenic tar components).

CONCLUSIONS

The application of this device could be a suitable tool for effectively improving human health through the prevention of smoking-associated cancer.