Differences in cadmium transfer from tobacco to cigarette smoke, compared to arsenic or lead.

Arsenic, cadmium and lead levels in tobacco filler and cigarette smoke were determined in a 568-sample worldwide survey. Median tobacco levels for arsenic, cadmium and lead were 237, 769 and 397 ng/g respectively, comparable to those previously reported albeit somewhat lower for lead and cadmium. Median mainstream smoke yields for arsenic, cadmium and lead were <3.

Formation of mainstream cigarette smoke constituents prioritized by the World Health Organization--yield patterns observed in market surveys, clustering and inverse correlations.

The WHO TobReg proposed mandating ceilings on selected smoke constituents determined from the market-specific median of nicotine-normalized yield distributions. Data validating this regulatory concept were obtained from essentially single-blend surveys. This process is strongly impacted by inverse correlations among yields.