"Roll your own" cigarettes may seem more natural than the manufactured kind – but they are just as harmful, researchers reported last night.
British researchers found similar levels of toxic chemicals in the bodies of people who smoked both kinds of cigarettes.
There were especially high concentrations of toxins in women.
The study found chemicals such as arsenic, cadmium, formaldehyde, polonium-210 and hydrogen cyanide in the smoke.
The findings have been published in the journal Addiction Biology.
They come from comparing 127 smokers of manufactured cigarettes with some 28 roll-your-own smokers.
Researcher Dr Lion Shahab, from a Cancer Research UK research centre based at University College, London, UK, said: "Many smokers believe that roll your own cigarettes are more ‘natural’ and therefore are less harmful than manufactured cigarettes.
"The current findings suggest that this is not the case."
Elspeth Lee, of Cancer Research UK, said: "These results further highlight that there’s no such thing as a safe cigarette. Hand rolled tobacco is more commonly used by people from lower socio-economic groups, and it is also in poorer communities that smoking rates are highest.
"It’s important that people know that using hand-rolled tobacco may be cheaper but is every bit as toxic as ready made cigarettes."
Addiction Biology, 14, 315-320.
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