| Many smokers believe that roll-your-own or RYO cigarettes are
not as harmful as manufactured cigarettes. Many RYO smokers change to smoking roll-ups rather than stop smoking in
the mistaken belief that they will smoke less tobacco and inhale fewer toxic
chemicals. But hand-rolling tobacco is
as just as harmful as the tobacco in manufactured cigarettes. Research using roll-up cigarettes made by
smokers, shows that the levels of nicotine and cancer-causing chemicals inhaled
are often higher than those from bought cigarettes. RYO cigarettes are more likely to cause
mouth, throat and lung cancer as well as lung diseases such as emphysema and
heart disease.
Smoke yields from RYO cigarettes
Manufactured cigarettes undergo tests to show their ‘smoke
yields’. These figures indicate the
amount of tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide levels for each brand. Because cigarettes made from hand-rolling
tobacco are not standard, tests in the Laboratory of the Government Chemist
show that the smoke yields of RYO cigarettes vary as a result of a number of
factors. These include:
· Amount of tobacco used
· Number of puffs taken
· Porosity of the rolling paper
· Use of a filter
· Moisture content of the tobacco
Tar yields
Tar yields for roll-ups are higher than for most
manufactured brands. Researchers asked
26 regular RYO smokers to make a number of their usual roll-ups. The researchers then tested the RYO
cigarettes and showed that over half of the hand-rolled cigarettes gave tar yields
above the current maximum level of 15 mg for manufactured cigarettes. Tar contains most of the cancer-causing
chemicals and lung irritants.
Nicotine yields
Nicotine yields from hand-rolled cigarettes are often higher
than for manufactured cigarettes. Less
than one in ten cigarette brands in the UK has a declared nicotine yield
above 1.5mg per cigarette in laboratory tests. Over three quarters of the RYO cigarettes in the study produced a
nicotine yield above this level.
Humectants in hand rolling tobacco
There are more humectants in rolling tobacco than in manufactured
cigarettes. Humectants are added to
prevent the tobacco from drying out and to make it taste smoother. Humectants yield some very toxic chemicals
such as acrolein.
Lack of filters
Filters in RYO cigarettes are not always used but they
remove almost a half of the tar and nicotine. However, even with filters, smokers tend to compensate if they don’t get
enough nicotine by smoking more or taking deeper puffs to ‘top-up’ nicotine
levels. Filters don’t reduce the carbon
monoxide.
RYO smokers have higher nicotine dependence
A study compared addiction levels of RYO smokers with
smokers who use the same number of manufactured cigarettes per day. People who smoke roll-ups are generally more
addicted to nicotine and are less likely to stop smoking. Some highly addicted smokers use roll ups
because it gives them more control over the nicotine ‘dose’.
Who smokes roll-ups?
The majority of RYO smokers in the UK are older
men. A quarter of all male smokers use rolling
tobacco. Less than one in twenty women
smokers uses RYO. A third of poorer
smokers use roll-ups because rolling tobacco is cheaper.
Higher tar - lower tax
EU regulations for tar and nicotine levels in cigarettes do
not apply to rolling tobacco even though most of the RYO cigarettes are more
dangerous than manufactured cigarettes. Hand-rolling tobacco is taxed and
priced at a lower level – about half that of packaged cigarettes. In countries where cigarettes are cheap or
rolling tobacco is expensive, very few people use RYO cigarettes. In the Netherlands more than half of all
tobacco smoked in the country is RYO because of price differences.
Reducing the use of RYO
Similar to manufactured cigarettes, tar and nicotine levels
need to be restricted and smokers informed of the increased dangers of smoking
without a filter. Higher tax on rolling
tobacco would encourage more RYO smokers to quit.
© GASP 93 Cromwell RoadBristolBS6 5EX
Tel 0117
955 0101 Fax 0117 955 0210
www.gasp.org.uk |
