PESHAWAR, May 22: Nicotine content in locally-made cigarettes is higher than those of international brands, exposing smokers further to the risk of addiction and cancer, according to a study. The study was conducted jointly by the UK-based Abaseen Foundation, Chest Ward of the Khyber Teaching Hospital and the Pakistan Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR), to determine nicotine and moisture contents in different brands of cigarettes available in the country.

Of the total 23 brands of cigarettes, including 10 Pakistani and 13 foreign-made, only one has displayed the quantity of nicotine on the packet, a highly addictive element. Furthermore, the displayed values of nicotine should be the total content per cigarette rather than percentage per smoke, it said.

Nicotine, it said, is 10 times more addictive than heroin, but used by the manufacturers in excessive quantity to promote tobacco addiction, saying that 02 per cent nicotine per cigarette was legally safe.

It said that tobacco leaf also contained nicotine, but manufacturers included more nicotine during manufacturing process in order to make their products more addictive. The study carried out by Dr Mukhtiar Zaman Afridi, Dr Tahira Mahmood and Dr Lajbar Khan between November 2005 and January 2006, showed that local brands contained 12.02-grams of nicotine per cigarette than 10.58 gram per cigarette of nicotine in a foreign cigarette. “The Pakistani brand has 1.44 grams or 13.6 per cent more nicotine that those of foreign brand”, it said.

According to the study conducted at the PCSIR, the quantity of tobacco in the local brands was found to be 0.74 gram per stick as compared to 0.67 gram of the foreign brand, showing that the local brand had 0.07 gram or 10.4 per cent more tobacco than foreign brand. Additionally, the local brands had 10.16 per cent moisture compared to 9.38 per cent of the foreign brand, indicating that local brand had 0.78 or 8.31 per cent more moisture than foreign brands.

Moisture contents were recorded at 7.20 per cent to 13.40 per cent per cigarette on average, whereas the nicotine contents were found to be between 1.33 to 01.98 per cent on average, said the study. Average weight per cigarette was found to be 0.36 to 00.94 gram, whereas total nicotine per cigarette on average basis was found to be between 5.44 to 17.80 mg.

It said that the international brand will have less tobacco and nicotine, but the smokers would compensate for that by taking more or deeper and harder puffs, blocking the ventilation holes in the filters with fingers, saliva or lips. It says that there is no evidence that by reducing the nicotine and tar offers any health gains.