American cigarettes more cancerous than foreign brands: study

Smokers may want to consider where their cigarettes are coming from before they plunk down money for another pack. American-made butts have up to three times the level of cancer-causing nitrosamines as foreign brands, according to research.

A study by the federal Centers for Disease Control compared the levels of nitrosamines – a major carcinogen – that were ingested by smokers in the United States, U.K., Canada and Australia over a 24-hour period. Included in the study were participants who smoked the most popular brands in their particular country. The U.S. volunteers liked Marlboro, Newport and Camel.

“People smoking the U.S. brand cigarettes (we tested) received a level of this carcinogen in their mouth and lungs that was three times higher compared to smokers in Canada and Australia,” Dr. James Pirkle, deputy director for science at the CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health, told ABC News.

Still, smokers here shouldn’t assume that if they buy foreign brands, they’re getting a healthier product. The research only looked at nitrosamines but not the other two dozen carcinogenic toxins in cigarettes.

“People might think that by switching brands, they will improve their health outcomes,” Wake Forest University School of Medicine director of tobacco intervention programs Dr. John Spangler told ABC News. But it’s way too premature to know if this is true.

The study information may one day help decide on the formulation of American cigarettes, a practice that’s now regulated by the FDA, thanks to last year’s Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.

But making a “healthy” cigarette’s not that easy.

“Tobacco smoke contains about 4,000 chemicals,” Spangler told ABC News. Lowering carcinogens is a positive step but would not reduce “your risk for other tobacco-related illnesses (such as) heart disease, stroke, emphysema and many other(s.)”

The best strategy of all? Instead of waiting for an FDA-sanctioned “healthy” cigarette, just kick the habit.

nydailynews.com