ABSTRACT
The ‰lter in Kent “Micronite” cigarettes used crocidolite, a form of asbestos , from 1952 until at leastmid-1956. A study done in the 1990s found that each ‰lter contained approximately10 milligrams (mg) of crocidolite and that asbestos ‰bers were in the ‰rst two puffs of each cigarettesmoked. A pack-a-day smoker of these cigarettes would inhale morethan 131 million crocidolite structures longer than 5 micrograms (µm)in one year.1 Combining asbestos exposure and smoking in one step-talk about a sadly ef‰cient synergistic delivery mechanism.
