Arsenic in Cigarettes.

Hastings Standard, Issue 123, 17 September 1896, Page 4

Arsenic in Cigarettes.

Although arsenic is a useful drag, and in addition to being efficacious in the treatment of many diseases, is reputed to be of value as a means of improving the complexion, it is not a substance which is adapted for everyday consumption, especially in large quantities. The announcement that it is employed in the colored wrappers in which cigarettes are sold will hardly be received with feelings of satisfaction by those who are in the habit of indulging in this particular form of smoking. That arsenic is contained in wall papers, in the binding of our books, in advertisement cards, and in many articles of daily domestic use is well known, but that it should contaminate our cigarettes is a much more seriou3 matter. We have long been accustomed to receive a colored photograph or some other inconsiderate trifle with our purchases, but that in addition we should be presented with an appreciable quantity of an active poison certainly exceeds our expectations. It is true that the arsenic is confined to the case or colored wrapper, but it has been found experimentally that it readily rubs oft" on the fingers, especially when moist, and that from them it is equally readily conveyed to the cigarettes themselves. Arsenic, when inhaled in even small quantities, gives rise to a chronic cough, spitting of blood, progressive loss of flesh, and other symptoms which we are accustomed to associate with the early stages of consumption. Dr Murrell, as the result of the examination of a large number of specimens both of cigarettes and tobacco, reports in the British Medical Journal that arsenic is present in more than a third of the brands in common use. It is by no means confined to the cheaper specimens, but it is met with even in high-class cigarettes.