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Menthol Content in U.S. Marketed Cigarettes
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Aug 09 2015
Source: Nicotine Tob Res. 18(7):1575-1580.
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Details:
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Alternative Title:Nicotine Tob Res
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Description:Introduction
In 2011 menthol cigarettes accounted for 32 percent of the market in the United States, but there are few literature reports that provide measured menthol data for commercial cigarettes. To assess current menthol application levels in the U.S. cigarette market, menthol levels in cigarettes labeled or not labeled to contain menthol was determined for a variety of contemporary domestic cigarette products.
Method
We measured the menthol content of 45whole cigarettes using a validated gas chromatography/mass spectrometry method (GC/MS).
Results
In 23 cigarette brands labeled as menthol products, the menthol levels of the whole cigarette ranged from 2.9 to 19.6 mg/cigarette, with three products having higher levels of menthol relative to the other menthol products. The menthol levels for 22 cigarette products not labeled to contain menthol ranged from 0.002 to 0.07 mg/cigarette. The type of packaging (soft vs. hard pack) for a given cigarette product does not appear to affect menthol levels based on the current limited data.
Conclusion
Menthol levels in cigarette products labeled as containing menthol are approximately 50 to 5,000-fold higher than those in cigarette products not labeled as containing menthol. In general, menthol content appears to occur within discrete ranges for both mentholated and non-mentholated cigarettes.
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Pubmed ID:26259988
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Pubmed Central ID:PMC4747842
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