A comprehensive evaluation of the toxicology of experimental cigarettes manufactured with banded papers.

Context: To comply with state requirements, cigarette manufacturers have added low-permeability bands to the cigarette paper. These bands can extinguish the cigarette when it is no longer being puffed by a smoker.
Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the toxicology resulting from the addition of different types of bands to experimental cigarettes.
Materials and Methods: A battery of assays that are typically used in toxicology studies with cigarette smoke, namely smoke chemistry, in vitro mutagenicity and cytotoxicity, and inhalation studies with rats, were used to evaluate different band characteristics added to cigarette paper.
Results: Although differences in the amount of band material was associated with an increase in some metals measured in mainstream tobacco smoke, it was not dose responsive to any band design parameter (base paper permeability, band width, band spacing, band chalk amount, or citrate). Occasional, minor differences were produced by the different types of bands; overall, there was no increased toxicity.
Conclusion: Although there were increases and decreases in some mainstream smoke constituents, the in vitro and in vivo testing performed demonstrated that low-permeability bands on cigarettes do not modify the toxicity of smoke inhaled by smokers.