AsianScientist (Jun. 28, 2026) – Marketed as pure, tobacco-free and even therapeutic, natural cigarettes have gained recognition amongst people who smoke in India searching for what they understand to be a more healthy different to standard cigarettes. However a brand new research suggests these merchandise could also be simply as dangerous—if no more so—than tobacco cigarettes.
Researchers from the Indian Institute of Know-how Gandhinagar (IITGN), in collaboration with the College of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), in contrast the bodily, chemical, and oxidative properties of mainstream smoke from commercially accessible natural and tobacco cigarettes in India. Their findings, revealed within the Journal of Hazardous Supplies, problem the widespread assumption that tobacco-free smoking merchandise are inherently safer.
Placing natural cigarettes to the check
The research in contrast emissions from two of India’s best-selling tobacco manufacturers and 4 widespread natural varieties containing substances like basil, clove, cinnamon, mint, inexperienced tea, water lily, and chamomile. Two of the natural manufacturers used tendu (ebony) leaves as wrappers, similar to these utilized in bidis, India’s most generally consumed smoking product.
To isolate the emissions, every cigarette was burned inside a sealed, automated two-chamber rig designed to copy human inhalation price. The cigarette emission was funnelled into real-time devices, and filter samples have been collected for bodily and chemical characterisation of particles.
“Our findings problem the extensively held perception that tobacco-free means risk-free,” mentioned Prof Sameer Patel, an Assistant Professor at IITGN’s Division of Civil Engineering and Chemical Engineering. “Emissions from natural cigarettes are corresponding to or exceeded these from tobacco cigarettes on practically each metric we measured. Leaf-wrapped natural variants turned out to be essentially the most hazardous of all of the samples examined.”
Superb particles, oxidative stress and heavy metals
The research discovered that natural cigarettes emitted round 20 per cent extra sub-500 nanometre particles than tobacco cigarettes. These effective particles are more and more linked to cardiovascular and respiratory illness.
The workforce additionally measured a property known as oxidative potential (OP), which quantifies the smoke’s capability to generate reactive oxygen species, aggressive molecules that drive irritation, lung tissue remodelling, and the vascular adjustments underlying coronary heart illness. Particulate matter from natural cigarettes recorded considerably increased OP than that from tobacco cigarettes.
Natural cigarettes wrapped in tendu leaves confirmed oxidative potential roughly 49 per cent increased than paper-wrapped variants.
Chemical evaluation additionally revealed unexpectedly excessive ranges of lead in a single basil-filled natural cigarette, regardless of being marketed as “chemical-free with 100% pure filler for a wholesome life-style.”
A regulatory blind spot
Past the well being findings, the researchers highlighted regulatory gaps surrounding natural cigarettes. In India, Cigarettes and Different Tobacco Merchandise Act, 2003 (COTPA) regulates tobacco merchandise by warning labels, promoting restrictions, and public-smoking guidelines, however merchandise marketed as tobacco-free usually fall outdoors these frameworks. Comparable regulatory gaps exist in a number of different international locations.
In accordance with lead writer Alok Kumar Thakur, a number of of the natural cigarettes they examined have been marketed with claims of relieving cough, enhancing sleep, or easing anxiousness.
“Nevertheless, there may be restricted scientific proof evaluating the emissions and toxicological impacts of those merchandise,” mentioned Thakur, who accomplished his PhD at IITGN and is at the moment pursuing postdoctoral analysis at Colorado State College, USA.
The researchers emphasised that the research doesn’t instantly assess illness outcomes in people who smoke. As an alternative, it evaluates measurable traits of smoke identified to affect organic responses.
“Combustion, effective particles, soot, hint metals, and the wrapper round all of them matter greater than what’s written on the field,” mentioned P S Ganesh Subramanian, a postdoctoral researcher at Washington College in St. Louis, USA.
The analysis said that with the natural cigarette class doubtlessly attracting youthful shoppers and first-time people who smoke utilizing wellness-oriented language, there may be an pressing must develop frameworks to control the advertising and marketing of tobacco options.
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Supply: Indian Institute of Know-how Gandhinagar ; Picture: chayanuphol/Magnific
Research hyperlink: The lure of ‘More healthy Smoke’: Comparative bodily, chemical, and oxidative potential characterization of emissions from natural and tobacco cigarettes
Disclaimer: This text doesn’t essentially mirror the views of AsianScientist or its workers.
