American Chemical Society reports that levels of two carcinogenic substances are still high in U.S. made cigarettes in spite of long-term opportunity to decrease them.

For almost 40 years, scientists have suggested ways to decrease the amounts of cancer-causing substances known as nitrosamines in tobacco products. Yet, current cigarettes have identical levels of these dangerous chemicals as did cigs which were made in 1970s, according to a study revealed last week at the symposium of the Division of Chemical Toxicology held during the national meeting of the American Chemical Society. The procedures that make cigarettes from green tobacco leaves may turn nicotine and nicotine-containing substance in two cancer-causing nitrosamines, N-nitrosonornicotine and 4-methyl-N-nitrosamino-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone. Though these two ingredients are not the only carcinogens in cigarettes, scientific evidence relates both to malignant tumors in cigarette smokers.

Outside the USA, most cigarette makers use other tobacco-processing technologies that generate much lower levels of these cancer-causing substances. In 1999, two leading U.S tobacco companies declared that they intended to decrease the levels of nitrosamines in their products. . Irina Stepanov, scientist from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, decided to find out if the cigarette makers kept their pledge. Last April, Stepanov teamed up with her colleagues and purchased 17 U.S – made cigarette brands, assessed the levels of two cancer-causing nitrosamines in the samples of cigarettes and tobacco products and compared these levels, to those mentioned in similar reports a decade ago.

When they compared average nitrosamine levels among the samples, scientists discovered that there were no significant changes in comparison to the amounts reported in 1979 and 1995. When they checked the eight brands launched after 1999, only one of them had lower levels of nitrosamines than the average brand in 1979. The scientists admit that the brand’s lower nitrosamine levels are probably due to the sort of tobacco leaves it uses. “Our figures show that cigarette make haven’t applied any significant attempts to decrease nitrosamines in U.S. made tobacco products during the last three decades, in spite of knowing how to do that,” Stepanov stated. She believes that governmental regulation could be the only way to require manufacturers decrease nitrosamine levels. Such measures can be approved under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, that entitles the Food & Drug Administration with the authority to oversee tobacco industry and control dangerous chemicals in tobacco products.

James Hallberg, a researcher from the University of Michigan, admits the present research reminds him of the early 1980s, when they detected carcinogens in beer. “Massive public pressure resulted in changes in brewing technologies that have virtually removed nitrosamines from beer in the country.” he said. “I hope the study presented today will lead similar move.”

By Clark Moore, Staff Writer Copyright © 2011 Hot-Cigs.com All rights reserved.