Low ignition propensity cigarettes: Smoke analysis for carcinogens and testing for mutagenic activity of the smoke particulate matter

In 1990, more than 20% of the almost 5200 deaths from fires in the United States occurred in fires from cigarettes. This fact led to the investigation of cigarettes with low ignition propensity. 32 experimental cigarettes differing in tobacco, cigarette circumference and in cigarette paper were tested for ignition propensity. This communication reports the results of comparative analyses of smoke from two low-propensity experimental cigarettes, A and B, which differed only in the porosity and treatment of the paper, and of the smoke from a reference cigarette C and from two leading US commercial cigarettes D and E. Model cigarette A delivered higher smoke yields of total particulate matter (TPM), nicotine, CO and benzo[ a]pyrene than the other four cigarettes, but had lower smoke yields of the carcinogenic, volatile, and tobacco-specific N-nitrosamines than cigarettes C, D and E. The TPM of cigarette A was less active as a frameshift mutagen in tests with Salmonella strain TA98 than was the TPM of cigarettes C, D and E. TPM of cigarette A was also less active as a frameshift mutagen in tester strain TA1538 than was the TPM of reference cigarette C. However, when the mutagenic potencies of the particulate matters were compared on a cigarette-to-cigarette basis, there were no significant differences between the TPM of the individual cigarettes. Replacing the conventional cigarette filter with a perforated filter may significantly reduce the smoke yield of cigarette A. If this can be achieved without changing the ignition propensity, detailed chemical analytical analyses and in vitro and in vivo assays for toxicity, ciliatoxicity, mutagenic activity and carcinogenicity need to be obtained for the smoke of such a prototype cigarette.