Marketed as natural and nicotine-free, these cigarettes hide hazards far worse than most buyers expect

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 comparable 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).