Investigation of lead and cadmium in counterfeit cigarettes seized in the United States

He, Yi; Lampe, Klaus von; Wood, Laura J.; Kurti, Marin

doi:10.1016/j.fct.2015.04.006

Cited by 19 publications

(13 citation statements)

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“…While physical characteristics were the predominant type of counterfeit characteristic (n=36), we also discovered references to several (n=6) chemical properties. Some of these properties (eg, presence of ethylene glycol derivatives) can be identified using ICP-MS 2–4. Other chemical properties require using alternate analytical tools.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One of the least understood aspects of the illegal cigarette trade is product counterfeiting, the unauthorised and illegal production of cigarettes sold under a brand name without permission from the trademark owner. Independent researchers have largely identified counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes, the most popular counterfeited premium brand in the world, through the examination of tobacco filler (eg, trace element profiling or pollen analysis) 1–6. However, additional research on counterfeit markers is needed to develop reliable methods that can be applied to population-based observational studies (eg, litter pack or pack swap surveys).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Categorising characteristics of counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes: a systematic review of tobacco industry documents

Kurti

Lampe

et al. 2019

Tob Control

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BackgroundThere is scant research on methods used to identify counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes.MethodsSystematic analysis of internal tobacco industry documents characteristics of counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes.ResultsIn the industry documents we identified as relevant, there were 42 characteristics of counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes. Overall, physical characteristics (88.1%) were the most commonly identified features across all locations, with the pack blank, cardboard shell of the cigarette pack, as the dominant site (30.9%). Some of the physical characteristics included offset lithography printing, incorrect font and colour. Overall, light microscopy was identified as the main method of forensic analysis for detecting counterfeits.ConclusionIndependent researchers employing litter pack and pack swap surveys are encouraged to use the characteristics identified in the study to gauge the prevalence of counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes and compare against industry estimates.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Categorising characteristics of counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes: a systematic review of tobacco industry documents

Kurti

Lampe

et al. 2019

Tob Control

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“…metals. These techniques include inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry, amongst others …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distinguishing legal and illegal cigarettes by applying paper spray mass spectrometry and chemometric tools

Jurisch

Paula

Augusti

2020

Rapid Comm Mass Spectrometry

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Rationale:Smoking is responsible for one in five deaths around the world. Thus, governments have been trying to reduce the number of active smokers by increasing taxes on products. This scenario creates a new problem by raising the consumption of illegally traded cigarettes, which are often seized and analyzed by police forces.Methods: Legal and illegal cigarette samples were extracted and analyzed using paper spray ionization mass spectrometry (PS-MS). The mass spectrometer was set to operate in full-scan positive ion mode to yield representative chemical profiles of each sample. The results were used to build a chemometric model using partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) to discriminate between both sets of samples, i.e. legal and illegal. Results:The PS-MS procedure was fast, simple and efficient, yielding high-quality and reproducible mass spectra with a very good signal-to-noise ratio. Even though all samples displayed visually indistinguishable mass spectra, the PS-MS data handled by the PLS-DA approach furnished a model that reached sample classification with rates of 100% and 80% for the training and validation sets, respectively. Conclusions:A novel methodology was successfully developed associating the PS-MS technique with chemometric analysis to differentiate between legal and illegal cigarettes. The PS-MS technique proved to be adequate for obtaining fingerprints of such types of samples despite high complexity, and a PLS-DA model was successfully constructed achieving 82.1% accuracy.

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“…Elevated concentrations of toxic metal element particularly lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) in the illegal cigarettes compared to legal cigarettes are reported in several studies. These high levels toxic metals are due to lack of control and regulation in the manufacturing process and growing environment of illegal cigarettes (He, von Lampe, Wood & Kurti, 2015;Pappas, Polzin, Watson, & Ashley, 2007). Moreover, the tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide contents of illegal cigarettes are recorded at 60 %, 80 % and 133 % more than the legal cigarettes, respectively (Swami, Judd, & Orsini, 2009;Poling, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hazard Index Hin = Internal Hazard Index AU = Activity Concentration of Uranium ATH = Activity Concentration of Thorium AK = Activity Concentration of PotassiumThe activity of AU, ATH, and AK in each sample was calculated using the equation(2).…”

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confidence: 99%

A Comparison Study of Radioactivity and Radiation Hazard Index between Legal and Illegal Cigarettes

Ariff

Abdullah

Jalil

2018

IJIE

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Radioactive nuclide which emits radiation and damages biological tissue is found in the cigarette. Illegal cigarettes are reported to contain higher toxic levels of the nuclide as compared to the legal cigarettes. Therefore, this study aims to compare the radioactive elements, concentration, radiation dose and Radiation Hazard Index (RHI) of the legal and illegal cigarettes. The natural radionuclides of Uranium-238 (238 U), Thorium-232 (232 Th) and Potassium-40 (40 K) of six legal cigarette brands and six illegal cigarette brands were measured using a High Purity Germanium (HPGe) detector-based gamma spectroscopy system. The radioactive elements that were detected by gamma spectrometer were Lead-214 (214 P) and Bismuth-214 (214 Bi) from 238U decay series, Bismuth-212 (212 Bi) and Actinium-228 (228 Ac) from 232 Th decay series and 40 K. The activity and concentration of 238 U for legal cigarettes were significantly higher than illegal cigarettes (p<0.01). On the contrary, a significantly high value of activity and concentration of 40 K element of illegal cigarettes were recorded when compared with legal cigarettes (p<0.001). The mean value of RHI for both illegal and legal cigarette samples were calculated and found to be higher than the safe limit of unity (1). However, the statistical test to compare the RHI of internal hazard index (Hin) and external hazard index (Hex) between illegal and legal cigarettes was not significant. To conclude, both legal and illegal cigarettes were subjected to a high radiation exposure, which could have negative effects to health.

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Investigation of lead and cadmium in counterfeit cigarettes seized in the United States

Cited by 19 publications

References 20 publications

Categorising characteristics of counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes: a systematic review of tobacco industry documents

Categorising characteristics of counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes: a systematic review of tobacco industry documents

Distinguishing legal and illegal cigarettes by applying paper spray mass spectrometry and chemometric tools

A Comparison Study of Radioactivity and Radiation Hazard Index between Legal and Illegal Cigarettes

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