A comprehensive evaluation of the toxicology of monogram inks added to experimental cigarettes

Cigarettes often have a small identifying mark (monogram) printed either on the cigarette paper toward the filter end of the cigarette or on the tipping paper.

A battery of tests was used to compare the toxicology of mainstream smoke from experimental cigarettes manufactured with different monogram inks. Cigarettes with different concentrations of different pigments were compared with cigarettes without ink, and with a control ink.

Smoke from each of the experimental cigarettes was evaluated using analytical chemistry and in vitro bacterial mutagenicity (Salmonella, five strains, ± S9) and cytotoxicity (neutral red uptake) assays.

No differences were observed between experimental cigarettes printed with three different pigment loads of iron oxide-based Black pigment and non-printed cigarettes. In general, no dose response was observed. However, increases in certain smoke constituents were found to correlate with Pigment Yellow 14 (also known as benzidine yellow) and Pigment Blue 15 (copper phthalocyanine). Increases in bacterial mutagenicity were observed for high-level print of Pigment Yellow 14 in TA98 and TA1537 and the high-level print of Pigment Blue 15 in TA98. In vitro cytotoxicity of mainstream smoke was unaffected by the presence of monogram ink on cigarettes.

Statistically significant dose-responsive constituent changes and an increase in mutagenicity were observed with inclusion of Pigment Yellow 14 and Pigment Blue 15. Other pigments showed minimal toxicological activity.