Total particulate matter and nicotine in Indian bidis and cigarettes: a comparative study of standard machine estimates and exposure levels in smokers in Bombay.

ABSTRACT

Standard emission levels of total particulate matter (TPM) and nicotine in bidi and cigarette smoke were compared with exposure levels based on smoking behaviour of smokers in Bombay. Bombay cigarette smokers are getting much higher amount of carcinogenic dry TPM (28 to 79%) and nicotine (31 to 104%), compared to standard machine estimates. In the case of regular bidi (60 mm) harmful ingredients like dry TPM decreased from 11 to 15 percent and nicotine increased from 11 to 22 percent, whereas long bidi (80 mm) delivered higher amount of dry TPM (14 to 22%) and nicotine (33 to 37%) in smokers in Bombay compared to standard machine estimates.