A study published on the PubMed website has been released titled “Assessment of the exposure to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in users of various tobacco / nicotine products by suitable urinary biomarkers“.
Not exactly a catchy title is it.
Sadly the full study is behind a paywall but the introduction pretty much tells you the full story.
Method Of Study
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) are formed by incomplete combustion of organic materials and often occur naturally in Bitumen and Oils.
You can be exposed to these many times in the general atmosphere due to workplace emissions, various foodstuffs, tobacco smoke and some medications.
Apparently at least 4 members of this class of chemicals are linked to being human carcinogens.
In this study the PAH’s traced were Napthalene (Nap), Flourene (Flu), Phenanthrene (Phe), Pyrene (Pyr) and Benzo a Pyrene (BaP).
The urine was used to measure whether these compounds were present in the body.
The people tested were either Cigarette smokers, Vapers, users of Heated Tobacco, Oral Tobacco, Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) and Non Users of any nicotine products.
Results
The smokers exhibited the highest levels for all PAH biomarkers and were significantly different from all other groups involved in the study.
Cigarette smokers were the only group who exhibited almost all PAH biomarkers.
The other groups showed results which were not distinguishable from the non nicotine users.
