Calculated Cancer Risks for Conventional and “Potentially Reduced Exposure Product” Cigarettes

Introduction:
This article presents a study on the calculated cancer risks associated with smoking different types of cigarettes, including conventional cigarettes and "potentially reduced exposure product" (PREP) cigarettes. The study aims to determine whether the risks of human cancer calculated from cigarette smoke yields can account for the epidemiologically observed risks.

Key Points:

* The study uses cigarette yield data for smoke carcinogens from multiple brands of conventional cigarettes and PREP cigarettes to calculate cancer risks due to 30 smoke carcinogens.
* Risk assessment calculations are performed for each cigarette type, including regular (R), light (Lt), ultralight (ULt), and PREP cigarettes, and compared with epidemiologically observed risks of lung cancer.
* The study considers the effects of machine versus human smoking on cigarette yield values and uses a scaling factor to estimate human topography yields.
* The cancer risks are calculated using two sets of cancer slope factors (CSFs) from the U.S. Environmental Protection agency (EPa) and the California EPa.
* The study finds that acetaldehyde, 1,3-butadiene, and acrylonitrile are associated with the largest calculated cancer risks for all 26 brands of conventional cigarettes.
* The calculated risks are proportional to the smoking dose (pack-years).
* The study concludes that the current inability to account for the observed health risks of smoking based on existing data indicates that current expressed/implied marketing promises of reduced harm from PREPs are unverified.

Main Message:
The main message of this article is that the current calculated cancer risks for conventional and PREP cigarettes do not account for the epidemiologically observed risks of smoking. Therefore, the marketing promises of reduced harm from PREPs are unverified, and there is little reason to be confident that removing currently measured human lung carcinogens would reduce the incidence of lung cancer among smokers. The study highlights the need for more comprehensive risk assessment models and high-quality toxicity data for additional toxicants to better understand the links between cigarette smoking and health outcomes.

Pankow, James F., Karen h. Watanabe, Patricia L. Toccalino, Wentai Luo, and Donald F. austin. “Calculated Cancer Risks for Conventional and ‘Potentially Reduced Exposure Product’ Cigarettes.” Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention 16, no. 3 (March 1, 2007): 584–92. https://doi.org/10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-06-0762.