COMPARATIVE STUDY ON FILTER EFFICIENCY OF DIFFERENT BRANDS OF CIGARETTES BY MICROSCOPIC AND SPECTROSCOPIC TECHNIQUES

Internationally there has been research on large scale for determination of efficiency of cigarette filters but in India it still remains a topic of discussion. Being the second largest consumers of tobacco and tobacco products and one of the largest and fastest growing consumers of cigarettes, such studies need to be undertaken at a greater level to assess the risk and hazards of cigarette smoking. The government of India seems to focus more on the taxation policy on tobacco products with a view that increased taxes on tobacco products will make it difficult for common masses to consume them. However, the Global Adult Survey conducted by the Government of India, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare clearly indicates that despite of increased taxes on tobacco and tobacco products, the number of consumers have grown many folds in last one decade. Most of the researches have used smoking machine regime for determination of human smoke yields from spent filter, however as per the WHO, no smoking machine can actually mimic the normal human smoking behaviour. Hence, keeping this aspect in mind, the current research is focused on estimation of filtration efficiency from spent cigarette filter without the use of smoking machine. Though there are numerous factors that can cause variation in filtration efficiency of cigarette filters but irrespective of these aspects this research project was selected for the comparative study on filter efficiency of different brands of cigarettes available in India by microscopic and spectroscopic techniques.