Table 2 Summary of known health effects for compounds found in smoke particles from tobacco cigarettes and marijuana joints. Numbers indicate the number of tentatively identified compounds which exhibit a given health effect.

From: Comprehensive characterization of mainstream marijuana and tobacco smoke

Health Effect

Tobacco

Marijuana

Common

Group 1 carcinogen*

1

1

1

Group 2A carcinogen

2

2

2

Group 2B carcinogen*

11

9

8

Group 3 carcinogen

15

14

11

Mutagen

70

50

28

Teratogen

0

1

0

Toxic by other mechanisms

74

33

19

No risk data available**

497

426

162

Total detected by GC×GC-TOFMS

668

534

229

Total detected by both methods*

670

536

231

  1. *Many Group 1 and 2 carcinogens known in tobacco smoke are either too volatile or not volatile enough to be observed using the approach used herein. Therefore, this list of compounds and their health effects should not be considered to be an exhaustive list of carcinogens, mutagens, teratogens or otherwise toxic compounds found in mainstream tobacco or marijuana smoke. In parallel to the GC×GC-TOFMS results, formaldehyde (Group 1) and acetaldehyde (Group 2B) were detected by a third-party laboratory and included within the table. See text and Supplementary Table S2 for further discussion.
  2. **No risk data available or risks mitigated by proper protective equipment.