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Study Finds “Cooling” Chemical Additives in Non-Menthol Cigarettes
Researchers have identified a synthetic flavoring agent in recently introduced “non-menthol” cigarettes that can produce a similar—or stronger—cooling sensation as menthol, but without the aroma or taste of mint.
Findings from the researchers from the Yale School of Public Health, the Center for Green Chemistry & Green Engineering at Yale, and the Duke School of Medicine, were published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The presence of the flavoring agent, known as WS-3, poses concern in light of legislation designed to curb smoking and reduce the number of new smokers, indicated study co-author Julie Zimmerman, professor of green engineering and epidemiology (environmental health sciences) and vice provost for planetary solutions at Yale. Massachusetts and California, along with hundreds of municipalities, currently have menthol bans in place.
“The simple replacement of menthol with another cooling agent that lacks a ‘characterizing’ odor threatens to derail the existing local and proposed federal menthol bans,” Zimmerman said in a news release.
In their study, researchers combined a bioassay with chemical analysis to determine whether non-menthol cigarettes purchased in the 2 states with menthol bans contained chemicals that could activate the cold/menthol receptor similar to menthol. WS-3 was detected in 4 of 9 products analyzed. All 4 products were produced by RJ Reynolds, maker of Newport menthol cigarettes. (ITG, the maker of Kool menthol cigarettes, also has introduced non-menthol varieties.)
The non-menthol cigarettes were also found to have vanilla and tropical flavor chemicals in their filters.
“We were surprised to find ‘sweet’ flavor molecules, such as vanilla, in some cigarettes, which seems incompatible with federal legislation that forbids such flavors in cigarettes to reduce their attractiveness,” study co-lead author Hanno Erythropel, an associate research scientist at the Center for Green Chemistry & Green Engineering at Yale. “These findings are concerning, and the US FDA should develop strategies on how to address odorless cooling agents that could bypass tobacco product flavor regulations.”
Erythropel noted that other countries have enacted restrictions around such additives. Canada, for instance, has a specific list of ingredients allowed, while Belgium restricts “cooling” activity in tobacco products.
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