Mercury is a known neurochemical toxin to human health. Cigarette smoke inhalation exposes individuals to more than 4000 different substances including carcinogens and toxic metals. Previous studies have been done on mercury concentrations in cigarettes but very few recent ones in the US. Nearly 17.8% of adults in the United States smoke cigarettes today making the mercury concentration in tobacco of possible importance to human health. This study is intended to examine cigarettes as a viable method of Mercury ingestion in humans. The top two brands sold in the US were studied, including Marlboro and Newport (both regular and menthol). These data was gathered through the techniques of Thermal Decomposition, Catalytic Conversion, Gold Amalgamation, and Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy. A previous study done on mercury in cigarettes in 2008 found an average of 13 (±1.3) ppb (ng/g) Hg in a whole cigarette out of 30 samples on three different non-specified brands. When compared to this study out of 24 cigarettes we found a 15% difference with an average value of 15 (±1.3) ppb. The average concentrations in ppb found in the Marlboro, Newport, and Newport Menthols were found to be 16 (±1.0), 14 (±1.4), and 14 (±1.1) respectively. The implications of these results could be used as a possible indicator for climate change, or it could be used as evidence of manufacturing reform. Further studies on human Hg level changes after smoking cigarettes should be conducted to see if cigarette smoking is a reasonable pathway for mercury accumulation. An important novel study could be to analyze the mercury concentrations of electronic cigarettes as their popularity has been on the rise.

Analysis of mercury concentration in cigarettes as a viable source of human absorption of the top two brands sold in the United States

251st National Meeting (2016)

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