Current status of arsenic in American cigarettes

Abstract

A comprehensive arsenic analysis of 8 brands of American nonfilter cigarettes was performed in 1961 and again in 1965. A steady decline in the arsenic content was noted since our original analysis in 1957. Arsenic also was found in the phenolic fraction of cigarette-smoke condensate. At the present level it is doubtful that cigarette-smoke arsenic is a strong carcinogen unless the smoker consumes 2 or more packages a day. It is also probable that the arsenic carcinogen in cigarette smoke is triphenyl arsine, which the authors recently have found to have carcinogenic activity on mouse skin.