Institution: | 1. Department of Sciences, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 524 W59th Street, New York, NY, 10019;2. Department of Natural Sciences, Fordham University, 113 West 60th Street, New York, NY, 10023
Plant Research Laboratory, New York Botanical Garden, 2900 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY, 10458;3. Department of Chemistry, Harvey Mudd College, 301 Platt Blvd, Claremont, CA, 91711;4. Department of Sociology, Anthropology, Criminology and Social Work, Eastern Connecticut State University, 83 Windham Street, Willimantic, CT, 06226;5. Department of Police and Security Management, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Campus Lichtenberg, Alt-Friedrichsfelde 60, Berlin, 10315 Germany |
Abstract: | Traditional pollen preparation techniques provide clear residues for pollen identification; however, such methods are time-consuming, requiring repeated centrifugation, heating, and digestion with high-concentration hazardous chemicals. Tobacco leaves can effectively trap environmental pollen due to hairy surface and terpene-rich exudates. A new tobacco sample processing method was developed by using different extraction chemistry with surfactant. Marlboro Gold cigarettes were employed as model samples for method development. Parameters critical for pollen extraction, which include number of cigarette sticks used, extraction solution, and extraction temperature, were optimized. By using 1% dishwashing detergent to treat three cigarettes at room temperature, the improved method was able to recover sufficient pollen for microscopic analysis in three repeated centrifuge-washing steps and omit hazardous chemicals involved in traditional methods. We focused on the pollen of common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia), a plant native to North America, as an indicator to differentiate genuine and counterfeit U.S. brand cigarettes. Results from analyzing randomly purchased genuine (authenticated by forensic examination) and known counterfeit Marlboro Gold provided by law enforcement revealed that a significant amount (39%) of Ambrosia were consistently present in all genuine samples, while counterfeit contained none or only trace count. Similar results were found in other counterfeit U.S. brand cigarettes (all seized in the U.S.) involved in this study as well. Lack of Ambrosia in cigarette strongly indicates the product was not originated in the United States. |