Determination of hydrogen cyanide concentration in mainstream smoke of tobacco products by polarography

Background: There has been a worldwide concern for the health risks of cigarette smoking and hydrogen cyanide (HCN) considered as one of the hazardous tobacco compounds which is needed to be determined in order to reduce the dose related to smoke disease risk. In this study, we prepare the experimental procedure to entrap the HCN from mainstream smoke of different brands of Tehran cigarette, through simulating human inhalation and determine its concentration applying polarography. Results: The HCN level of the 50 commonly consumed tobacco products (47 cigarettes and 3 cigars) obtained from local store is ranged between 17.56 +/- 1.02 and 1553.98 +/- 0.56 mu g per stick, this acquired amount is more than FDA approval (10 mu g per stick), so the harmful effects of smoking is indicative. Conclusions: The comparative study of the results shows that the price and the weight of each product do not indicate HCN level. As can be seen, R-2 value which is a statistical measure of how close the data are to the fitted regression line is low (R-2 < 0.2). So it should not be deceived by names such as ultra light or infinite gravity to suck, because this names or the price haven't effect on the amount of HCN and its destructive effects.