Additive-Free Cigarettes

If you're a smoker who's quitting, or even if you're a pack-a-day type, you may want to consider switching to an additive-free cigarette. Why put more crap into your body than necessary?

The tobacco industry has provided a list of the 599 additives in cigarettes Most of the additives have not been approved for inhalation by burning, a process which changes their makeup. It's important to note that while the additives themselves may or may not be carcinogenic, upon being burned a cigarette produces over 4,000 chemical compounds, of which 60 have been identified as being carcinogenic. It follows common sense that fewer chemicals being altered produce fewer potentially harmful compounds.

A 2002 study published by Nicotine & Tobacco Research and conducted by lead researcher Wallace Pickworth of the National Institute on Drug Abuse found that additive-free cigarettes were actually more damaging than conventional cigarettes. The numbers were a little misleading. An unfiltered American Spirit cigarette, two types of traditional Indian cigarettes called bindis, and a smoker's usual brand were compared. The smoker's nicotine levels were tested an hour after smoking each. Not suprisingly, the unfiltered American Spirit cigarette, which contains up to 25% more tobacco because of it's lack of additives, delivered a higher level of nicotine.

"Data from this study were collected in a single exposure to alternative cigarettes in a laboratory environment," Pickworth granted. "The sample size was small, predominantly male and restricted to those over 18 years of age, and included only occasional bidi smokers. These characteristics may have influenced smoking patterns and subjective estimates and may limit the generalizability of the results".

A study like this should be evaluated carefully. If they were only testing the effect of the cigarette being additive free then they should have used at least one filtered additive free cigarette. It still would have delivered more nicotine but would have yielded a more fair comparison. Additionally, no research was reported on the effect of the additive-free smoke versus the additive-laced smoke, but merely on the nocotine content.

Although additive-free cigarettes could be more addictive because they deliver more nicotine from the higher tobacco content, logic dictates that a cigarette which produces 4,000 chemical compounds is likely to be a greater health risk than a higher level of nicotine.

The following additive-free cigarettes are available from the SSO Tobacco Mall:

• Native
• Niagara's
• Seneca
• Smokin Joes