Contraband Cigarettes: Tobacco Smoke Analysis

Revised 2011
ISBN: 978-1-100-13156-6
Cat. No.: H128-1/09-584E
HC Pub.: 5929

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Key Messages

• Smoking contraband cigarettes poses the same risk of harmful health effects as smoking legal cigarettes.
• The smoke from contraband cigarettes contains the same chemicals as the smoke from legal cigarettes sold in Canada.

Background

Contraband cigarettes raise several questions, mainly with regard to differences in ingredient composition and harmful health effects when compared to cigarettes that are sold legally in Canada.

Contraband cigarettes are often sold in non-conventional packages, such as plastic bags. The cigarette packaging does not provide information required by current regulations, including:

• illustrated health warnings;
• toxic emissions information;
• stamp or tear tape indicating that the manufacturer has paid applicable taxes and duties;
• name and address or license number of the manufacturer.

Contraband cigarettes also pose an additional problem: since they cost less, they are more affordable and their availability has increased.

Because exposure to the chemicals in tobacco smoke is responsible for causing harmful health effects, Health Canada analyzed and compared the tobacco smoke of contraband and legal cigarettes. The Department selected four samples of contraband cigarettes from products seized in 2006 by the Canadian Border Services Agency. The cigarettes had been packaged in transparent plastic bags containing approximately 200 units each. These were analyzed according to methods described in the Tobacco Reporting Regulations.

Results

Table 1 compares the tobacco smoke of contraband and legal cigarettes (see the Appendix).

The same chemical substances are present in the smoke of both contraband and legal cigarettes. There was no notable difference in the quantity of most of these chemicals found in the smoke of either contraband or legal cigarettes.

Tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 different chemicals that are formed when tobacco is burned. At least 70 of these chemicals are known to cause, trigger, or promote cancer. The minor differences in quantity seen for some of the chemicals would have relatively little impact on the risk of harmful health effects for those exposed to cigarette smoke.

Smoke composition depends on several factors, including growing conditions (fertilizer, water, lighting), the geographical environment where the tobacco was cultivated, type of tobacco, and the combination of different tobacco varieties. These factors account for any differences observed in smoke composition between contraband and legal cigarettes. The differences are mainly seen in the nitrosamines that are specific to tobacco (NNN, NAT, NNK), 1-aminonaphthalene, 2-aminonaphthalene, 3-aminobiphenyl, ammonia and isoprene. However, by way of comparison, the quantities of these chemicals in contraband cigarette smoke are similar to those found in the smoke of cigarettes sold in other countries.

Conclusion

The smoke composition of contraband and legal cigarettes is very similar. Health Canada considers that smoking contraband cigarettes poses the same risk of harmful health effects as smoking legal cigarettes sold in Canada.

References

1. Baker, R.R. Smoke Chemistry in Tobacco: Production, Chemistry and Technology, Davis, D.L., Nielsen, M.T., Eds., Blackwell Science: Malden, Massachusetts, 1999, pp. 398-439.
2. Green, C.R. Some Relationships between Tobacco Leaf and Smoke Composition. Proceedings of 173^rd American Chemical Society Symposium, 1977, pp. 426-470.
3. Health Canada, Tobacco Products Information Regulations, SOR/2000-272, P.C. 2000-1039, Ottawa, June 2000.
4. Health Canada, Tobacco Reporting Regulations, SOR/2000-273, P.C. 2000-1040, Ottawa, June 2000.
5. Leffingwell, J.C. Leaf chemistry: Basic chemical constituents and differences among tobacco types in Tobacco: Production, Chemistry and Technology, Davis, D.L., Nielsen, M.T., Eds. Blackwell Science: Malden, Massachusettes, 1999, pp. 272-281.
6. National Revenue, Stamping and Marking of Tobacco Products Regulations, SOR/2003-288, P.C. 2003-1202, Ottawa, August 2003.

Appendix

Table 1: Chemical composition of cigarette smoke for contraband cigarettes, for legal cigarettes sold in Canada, and for an American cigarette.

Chemicals	Quantity in the smoke Mean   ±   Standard deviation
		Smoking conditionTable 1 footnote 1	Contraband cigarette	Legal cigarette sold in Canada	American cigarette - Kentucky 2R4F
List of abbreviations used in the table NNN: N-nitrosonornicotine NAT: N-nitrosoanatabine NNK: 4-(N-nitrosomethylamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone Table 1 footnotes Table 1 footnote 1 ISO: Data collected under ISO smoking conditions Modified: Data collected under Health Canada modified smoking conditions Return to table 1 footnote 1 referrer
Tar	(mg/cig)	ISO	17.0   ±   0.5	14.4  ±  0.6	9.11  ±  0.37
		Modified	36.3  ±  1.4	36.1  ±  1.5	28.2  ±  1.4
Nicotine	(mg/cig)	ISO	1.36  ±  0.05	1.26  ±  0.05	0.77  ±  0.03
		Modified	2.82  ±  0.10	2.75  ±  0.16	1.95  ±  0.09
Carbon monoxide (CO)	(mg/cig)	ISO	16.0  ±  0.5	15.4  ±  0.8	12.0  ±  0.6
		Modified	29.9  ±  0.8	30.8  ±  1.0	32.7  ±  1.1
NNN	(ng/cig)	ISO	53.8  ±  4.3	7.7  ±  3.6	163  ±  5
		Modified	98.9  ±  8.4	16  ±  4	340  ±  23
NAT	(ng/cig)	ISO	77.1  ±  4.7	15.1  ±  5.2	146  ±  9
		Modified	127  ±  7	29.0  ±  5.3	286  ±  16
NNK	(ng/cig)	ISO	52.9  ±  5.2	14.1  ±  2.4	144  ±  8
		Modified	97.1  ±  9.1	30  ±  3	298  ±  20
Benzo[a]pyrene	(ng/cig)	ISO	16.2  ±  0.4	10.3  ±  4.7	6.11  ±  0.50
		Modified	27.6  ±  3.8	22  ±  5	16.2  ±  1.3
1-aminonaphthalene	(ng/cig)	ISO	24.0  ±  1.9	11.7  ±  4.2	15.7  ±  1.3
		Modified	36.6  ±  1.6	21  ±  4	27.7  ±  3.7
2-aminonaphthalene	(ng/cig)	ISO	15.7  ±  1.0	7.2  ±  2.4	11.3  ±  1.2
		Modified	24.2  ±  0.9	13  ±  2	18.9  ±  2.2
3-aminobiphenyl	(ng/cig)	ISO	3.01  ±  0.20	1.9  ±  0.6	2.76  ±  0.38
		Modified	5.17  ±  0.40	3.7  ±  0.6	5.46  ±  0.24
4-aminobiphenyl	(ng/cig)	ISO	2.26  ±  0.16	1.5  ±  0.5	2.04  ±  0.16
		Modified	3.96  ±  0.24	3.0  ±  0.5	3.96  ±  0.12
Ammonia	(µg/cig)	ISO	17.8  ±  1.7	10.2  ±  3.6	11.4  ±  0.8
		Modified	33.3  ±  2.7	27  ±  4	31.3  ±  1.6
Hydrogen cyanide	(µg/cig)	ISO	194  ±  18	146  ±  45	120  ±  7
		Modified	348  ±  19	376  ±  46	412  ±  31
Formaldehyde	(µg/cig)	ISO	64.0  ±  2.2	76  ±  32	26.1  ±  1.2
		Modified	120  ±  16	204  ±  32	84.7  ±  6.1
Acetaldehyde	(µg/cig)	ISO	691  ±  38	641  ±  205	511  ±  33
		Modified	1333  ±  89	1453  ±  208	1367  ±  61
Acetone	(µg/cig)	ISO	377  ±  119	374  ±  120	258  ±  9
		Modified	691  ±  31	830  ±  122	727  ±  25
Acrolein	(µg/cig)	ISO	83.1  ±  4.5	81  ±  26	52.5  ±  3.1
		Modified	153  ±  4	196  ±  27	163  ±  7
Propionaldehyde	(µg/cig)	ISO	65.0  ±  2.7	58  ±  19	43.1  ±  2.8
		Modified	120  ±  6	135  ±  20	125  ±  5
Crotonaldehyde	(µg/cig)	ISO	27.0  ±  1.7	28  ±  10	12.2  ±  0.9
		Modified	62.2  ±  2.9	73  ±  10	56.4  ±  3.0
Butyraldehyde	(µg/cig)	ISO	48.7  ±  4.1	42  ±  15	33.9  ±  4.1
		Modified	91.3  ±  7.6	98  ±  16	89.9  ±  3.9
1,3-Butadiene	(µg/cig)	ISO	56.8  ±  4.8	54  ±  20	35.9  ±  1.5
		Modified	108  ±  4	125  ±  20	96.8  ±  8.8
Isoprene	(µg/cig)	ISO	551  ±  30	319  ±  129	344  ±  10
		Modified	1015  ±  32	708  ±  132	927  ±  87
Acrylonitrile	(µg/cig)	ISO	14.8  ±  1.2	10.4  ±  4.5	8.70  ±  0.55
		Modified	26.5  ±  3.2	24  ±  5	26.9  ±  2.9
Benzene	(µg/cig)	ISO	53.3  ±  2.3	47  ±  18	38.3  ±  1.3
		Modified	95.4  ±  4.5	100  ±  18	90.7  ±  4.5
Toluene	(µg/cig)	ISO	93.1  ±  6.0	78  ±  27	66.9  ±  4.3
		Modified	188  ±  5	171  ±  27	176  ±  9
pH		ISO	5.94  ±  0.07	5.97  ±  0.18	6.06  ±  0.07
		Modified	5.79  ±  0.06	5.64  ±  0.18	5.85  ±  0.05