“Herbal” does not mean “harmless”: A new study finds herbal cigarettes are not safer than tobacco
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 30-Oct-2026 10:16 ET (30-Oct-2026 14:16 GMT/UTC)
Herbal cigarettes, widely sold in India and abroad as natural, tobacco-free, and even therapeutic alternatives to conventional cigarettes, are not safer than regular tobacco cigarettes. They produce emissions that can be comparably or even more damaging than tobacco smoke. That is the conclusion of a new study conducted by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN), in collaboration with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). The paper, published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials, presents a comprehensive comparison of the physical, chemical, and oxidative properties of mainstream (firsthand) smoke from commercially available herbal and tobacco cigarettes in the Indian market.
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