Addiction - 'Crack' nicotine in cigarettes varies widely

[Alfa]

'Crack' nicotine in cigarettes varies widely

* 15:24 28 July 2003
* Gaia Vince

Some cigarettes have a "kick" containing 35 times more "freebase" nicotine - the most addictive form - than others, researchers have found. The findings could help rate the addictiveness of different brands, they say.

"Free-base" nicotine is a particularly potent form of the naturally-occurring tobacco drug because it is in an extremely volatile, uncombined form. This means it can be much more rapidly absorbed by the lungs and brain than nicotine derivatives such as nornicotine or its salts.

The new study is the first into the amount of "free-base" nicotine contained in common brands of cigarettes and found wide-ranging differences. The researchers at Oregon Health and Science University used a laboratory smoking device and a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer to collect and analyse smoke from 11 brands of cigarettes. The study measured the first three puffs of smoke from each cigarette.

"Measurements ranged from about one per cent free-base nicotine in the first few puffs to 36 per cent for a specialty US brand," says lead researcher James Pankow. "One type of Marlboro, the leading US brand of king-sized filter cigarettes, contained about 10 per cent free-base nicotine."

Crack cocaine

Previous research has shown that a drug's addictiveness is influenced by the speed at which it is delivered to the brain and absorbed into and from the blood stream.

"The study shows that the modern cigarette does to nicotine what crack does to cocaine," says addiction expert Jack Henningfield, at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The notorious addictiveness of smoking crack results from the vapourised cocaine reaching the brain almost immediately.

Ian Jones, a nicotine expert at Bath University, UK, adds: "Free-base nicotine is the most damaging form because it is the optimal configuration for binding to the nicotine receptors in the brain, heart and rest of the body. If the binding efficiency is increased, it means the concentration of nicotine at the receptors is higher and so it is very addictive."

"The first few puffs are the most important in terms of addiction, because nicotine reaches the brain within seconds," Jones told New Scientist
Ammonia and urea

The amount of freebase nicotine in cigarette smoke increases as the alkalinity, or pH, increases. This factor can be influenced by the use of certain additives.

"It is likely that ingredients such as ammonia and urea account for this addiction-enhancing effect. But you can also adjust the chemistry of the smoke by adjusting the blend. Some types of tobacco give a more basic blend," Pankow told New Scientist.

"There was tremendous amount of documentation revealed during litigation in the US of manipulation of the freebase levels and the FDA certainly believed there was manipulation of cigarette chemistry," he adds.

"What is clear is that the modern cigarette is a highly engineered nicotine delivery device and it's not just a matter of tobacco rolled-up in a piece of paper," Pankow says. "Even the so-called 'additive-free' cigarettes are highly engineered."

Journal reference: Journal of Chemical Research in Toxicology (DOI: DOI: 10.1021/tx0340596)

http://www.newscientist.com/article/...es-widely.html

Reputation Comments on this post:

	brilliant!
	Thanks for posting these articles, I had no idea that this was happening to cigarettes.
	For all the recent news
	This is an awesome article, I've referenced it sooo many times.

[Alfa]

How Cigarettes Are Made More Addictive

It's already known that nicotine is one of the most incredibly addictive substances ever known to mankind. Unbelievably, there were many years when Big Tobacco denied this truth. But, it's now been so firmly established by the scientific community that it's no longer viable to deny this fundamental fact.

It's said that nicotine is as addictive as cocaine and heroin. Speaking from personal experience, I can say it's actually more addictive. Some even say that it's easier for an alcoholic to forsake alcohol than it is for a smoker to quit smoking. My experience confirms this also.

Cigarettes, as a nicotine-delivery device, would be extremely addictive even if nothing else were done to them. However, many of the large tobacco companies do quite a lot to increase the addictive properties of their product. This guarantees that less smokers will succeed in quitting; and, it also reduces the effectiveness of anti-smoking aids.

One method for cranking-up the nicotine power is to add sugars to the tobacco. Big Tobacco claims the purpose is to enhance flavor. However, Victor DeNoble (once a tobacco industry scientist) argues that acetaldehyde----which is produced by burning sugar----may make tobacco more addictive. Mr. DeNoble conducted studies with rats which provided evidence that acetaldehyde was extremely addictive.

The research significantly demonstrated that a compound in cigarettes besides nicotine could lead to addiction. In addition, Phillip Morris' experiments showed the addictive properties of acetaldehyde to be synergistic with nicotine: in other words, when the compounds are combined their effect is multiplied. This is also why it's suspected that nicotine replacement methods are often ineffective: for, they replace the nicotine but not the acetaldehyde.

William Farone, also a former tobacco industry scientist, speculated that the tobacco industry was concentrating on methods to enhance nicotine's addictive properties through other synergistic additives. Mr. Farone refers to GRAS----an acronym for “generally regarded as safe”----to characterize other compounds which are added to ratchet up the addiction level.

The GRAS compounds include chocolate and cocoa, which, when burned, produce theobromine. Theobromine facilitates cigarette smoke inhalation, allowing the nicotine to reach the deepest recesses of the lungs. Cocoa also smooths the smoke.

Perhaps most insidious is what's known as ammonia technology. Through the addition of ammonia, cigarette smoke's pH is altered, turning the nicotine molecules into a vapor air “freebase.” This vapor nicotine is more readily absorbed into the smoker's bloodstream and brain. The blood-brain barrier is more easily compromised, allowing for the quickest hit of nicotine.

Jeffrey Wigand (a Big Tobacco whistle-blower) stated that American cigarettes contain at least 600 chemical additives. While these additives are viewed harmless in cosmetics and food; they largely have not been tested while burned and inhaled.

For those who think of our modern cigarettes as simply some pure tobacco that's rolled-up in paper, it's time to reconsider. It's far more accurate to think of cigarettes as a highly-engineered, deadly product.


Author's Bio

John P. Smith is a writer who struggled incredibly to quit smoking.

[Pomzazed]

Originally Posted by Alfa

One method for cranking-up the nicotine power is to add sugars to the tobacco. Big Tobacco claims the purpose is to enhance flavor. However, Victor DeNoble (once a tobacco industry scientist) argues that acetaldehyde----which is produced by burning sugar----may make tobacco more addictive. Mr. DeNoble conducted studies with rats which provided evidence that acetaldehyde was extremely addictive.

What can be said, is "What??".
You know what this means. Acetaldehyde?!

[Paracelsus]

Can you add links?

[Alfa]

Added.

[Alfa]

OHSU researcher publishes first measurements of 'free-base' nicotine in cigarette smoke

Thought to be the most addictive form of nicotine in tobacco smoke, free-base nicotine is found at a wide range of levels in popular brands

PORTLAND, Ore. -- When it comes to nicotine content, all cigarettes are not created equal, according to a new study by researchers at Oregon Health & Science University. In fact, the study finds that some commercial cigarette brands contain 10 to 20 times higher percentages of nicotine in the so-called "free-base" form -- the form thought to be most addictive -- than believed up to now. The study, published today in the online edition of the American Chemical Society's journal Chemical Research in Toxicology, documents the first reliable measurements of free-base nicotine in tobacco smoke.

"We believe that this study is a major step forward in understanding how addictive nicotine is delivered by tobacco smoke," said James F. Pankow, Ph.D., professor of environmental and biomolecular systems at OHSU's OGI School of Science & Engineering in Hillsboro, Ore., and a member of the OHSU Cancer Institute. "We found big differences in the percentages of free-base nicotine among 11 commercial cigarette brands."

Nicotine enters a smoker's body mostly carried on the billions of particles in cigarette smoke, Pankow said. In common with street drugs like cocaine, he said, nicotine's molecular structure can appear in both free-base ("unprotonated") and non-free-base ("monoprotonated") forms. The difference is that the free-base form is missing a hydrogen ion, and this allows it to vaporize easily into a gas during smoking. "During smoking, only the free-base form can volatize from a particle into the air in the respiratory tract. Gaseous nicotine is known to deposit super-quickly in the lungs. From there, it's transported rapidly to the brain.

"Since scientists have shown that a drug becomes more addictive when it is delivered to the brain more rapidly," Pankow continued, "free-base nicotine levels in cigarette smoke thus are at the heart of the controversy regarding the tobacco industry's use of additives like ammonia and urea, as well as blending choices in cigarette design." A 1997 Pankow study resulted in the first public-domain report linking ammonia additives with increased free-base nicotine levels.

In the new study, Pankow analyzed the smoke of popular cigarette brands under controlled conditions to measure what percentage of the nicotine is in the more addictive free-base form. It employed a laboratory smoking device and a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) to collect and analyze smoke from 11 brands of cigarettes purchased at various U.S. retail outlets. These cigarettes were tested against a "reference" cigarette -- a standardized cigarette used only by scientists in tobacco and smoking research. The researchers made brand-to-brand comparisons, measuring the first three puffs of smoke from each brand separately from the remaining smoke. The first few puffs, Pankow said, "are in some cases much higher in this free-base nicotine fraction."

Measurements ranged from about 1 percent free-base nicotine in the first few puffs of the reference cigarette to 36 percent for a specialty U.S. brand. One type of Marlboro, the leading U.S. brand of king-sized filter cigarettes, contained about 10 percent free-base nicotine, Pankow said.

The study found a wide range of free-base nicotine levels among other brands such as Camel, Winston, Doral, GPC, Kamel Red, Virginia Slims, American Spirit and the French brand Gauloises. (A copy of the complete study is available upon request; see the last page for details).

Neal Benowitz, M.D., a nicotine addiction expert at the University of California at San Francisco School of Medicine, provided a scientific perspective of this study's impact:

"The rate of absorption of nicotine from a tobacco product into the blood stream influences the addictiveness of the product, and the rate of absorption of nicotine from cigarette smoke is dependent on how much of the nicotine is in the free-base form. Free-base nicotine levels are determined by the pH (acid-base balance) of the smoke, which is difficult to measure accurately and which can be influenced by various additives. Pankow and colleagues have analyzed free-base nicotine and pH in a number of popular cigarette brands, using a novel method that is much more accurate than methods used previously. They found more than 10-fold variation in levels of free-base nicotine among American cigarette brands. This is the first research to make such observations and will certainly help to guide future research into differences in the addictiveness of different brands of cigarettes."

Internal documents made public through the 1999 tobacco settlement show that some industry scientists have long been aware of the role of free-base nicotine in cigarette smoke. For example, one report in the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library states:

"In essence, a cigarette is a system for delivery of nicotine to the smoker in attractive, useful form. At 'normal' smoke pH, at or below about 6.0, essentially all of the smoke nicotine is ... relatively slowly absorbed by the smoker. As the smoke pH increases above about 6.0, an increasing proportion of the total smoke nicotine occurs in "free" form, which is volatile, rapidly absorbed by the smoker, and believed to be instantly perceived as nicotine "kick," R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, 1974. http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/rte53d00.

Pankow notes that most addiction researchers believe that chemicals like nicotine, cocaine and methamphetamine become increasingly addictive the more rapidly they are delivered to the brain. Addiction expert Jack Henningfield, Ph.D., a professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and former adviser to past FDA Commissioner David Kessler, M.D., J.D., said Pankow has shown that " cigarettes deliver much higher levels of free-base nicotine than previously thought, thus helping to explain their enormous addictive potential.

In fact, the study shows that the modern cigarette does to nicotine what crack does to cocaine. It appears likely that ingredients used in modern cigarette manufacture such as ammonia and urea account for this addiction-enhancing effect."

According to Greg Connolly, D.M.D., M.P.M., director of the Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program, the study "will allow a consideration of the regulation of the addictive properties of cigarettes in a way that has never before been possible."

Coincidentally, the study comes on the heels of a recent controversy in Europe over the disclosure of tobacco ingredients. Last week, Dutch Health Minister Han Hoogervorst ordered tobacco manufacturers to make public all ingredients used in cigarettes, cigars and loose tobacco sold in the Netherlands, and to reveal which ingredients are addictive. The new rule -- which also applies to foreign-based companies -- was issued over the protests of tobacco companies concerned about the disclosure of proprietary product information. According to an April 25 Reuters report, BAT Netherlands, a subsidiary of the tobacco giant British American Tobacco, objected to the disclosure of additives used in cigarettes sold in the Dutch market. A spokesman for the company stated:

"... to our understanding this requirement goes beyond what was required by the EU directive and it is most detrimental to our position vis-a-vis our competitors, and certain information cannot be declared . . . ."

Dutch officials stated that the government would not reveal specific tobacco formulations, preventing competitors from copying a specific brand of cigarette. In the United States, there are no formal tobacco industry or FDA guidelines covering the appropriate levels of free-base nicotine in cigarettes, Pankow said. "But the 'conventional wisdom' put forth by the industry in the past suggested small percentages of free-base nicotine," he said.

"Cigarette smoking is the single most preventable cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States," said Grover C. Bagby, Jr., M.D., director of the OHSU Cancer Institute. "Understanding the chemical elements that form the basis of addiction is an important step forward in developing ways of conquering this problem in our society today."

About James F. Pankow, Ph.D.

James F. Pankow (http://www.ebs.ogi.edu/faculty/pankow.html) has studied nicotine chemistry for the past seven years and was appointed to the OHSU Cancer Institute in 2003. He received his doctorate in environmental engineering science from the California Institute of Technology in 1978. Associate editor of the prestigious journal Environmental Science & Technology, Pankow is recognized as a "Highly Cited Author" by the Institute of Scientific Information, reflecting the extraordinarily high impact of his published work. He is the author of numerous scientific papers and of three books in environmental chemistry. His 25-year career at OGI has included a 12-year term as head of the school's Department of Environmental Science and Engineering. His other research interests include the physical and analytical chemistry of organic compounds and metals in natural waters and in the atmosphere, and on the formation and chemistry of smog in urban air.

###

About the OGI School of Science & Engineering at OHSU

The OGI School of Science & Engineering (http://www.ogi.edu) offers graduate education and advanced research in computer science and engineering, environmental and biomolecular systems, biomedical engineering, electrical engineering and management in science and technology. OGI is one of four schools in Oregon Health & Science University. Formerly known as the Oregon Graduate Institute of Science & Technology, OGI merged with OHSU in July 2001. The school has nearly 100 full-time and adjunct faculty members, nearly 600 full- and part-time students and an annual research budget of approximately $18 million.

Public release date: 24-Jul-2003
Contact: Mike MacRae
macraem@ohsu.edu
503-748-1042
Oregon Health & Science University

[Bajeda]

Is this in the archive yet?

[RoboCodeine7610]

SWIM really notices a huge difference between different brands, even though they contain the same amount of nicotine...For example L&M Red Label Nicotine-0.6mg and Marlboro red label Nicotine-0.6mg.
But SWIM notices Marlboro to be waaaaaaay stronger than L&M.