Arsenic exposure and tobacco consumption: Biomarkers and risk assessment

Arsenic is measurable in tobacco and cigarette mainstream smoke (MSS). Whether arsenic has an independent role in diseases associated with tobacco consumption is not known. Epidemiology and biomonitoring data and probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) methods were used to investigate this potential association. Analysis of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) showed that urine arsenic concentrations in tobacco consumers were not different or were lower than levels in non-consumers of tobacco. Additionally, urine arsenic levels from NHANES tobacco consumers were five-times or more lower than levels reported in epidemiology studies to be associated with adverse health effects. Results of PRA indicated that mean non-cancer hazard estimates and mean incremental lifetime cancer risk estimates were within accepted ranges. Taken together, these results suggest that arsenic may not be independently associated with tobacco consumption or diseases related to tobacco consumption.

► Urine arsenic levels were not different in cigarette smokers, smokeless tobacco consumers, and non-consumers of tobacco.
► Urine arsenic levels associated with human disease were approximately ⩾5 times higher than levels in tobacco consumers.
► Probabilistic risk assessment predicted risk from arsenic in tobacco products to be within accepted regulatory ranges.
► Arsenic may not be independently associated with disease in cigarette smokers and smokeless tobacco consumers.