US cigarettes contain more cancer causing chemicals than other countries, according to a new study.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted a study of seventeen brands and 126 smokers in the U.S., Britain, Canada, and Australia.

“All of these cigarettes contain harmful levels of carcinogens, but these findings show that amounts of tobacco-specific nitrosamines differ from country to country, and U.S. brands are the highest in the study,” said Dr. Jim Pirkle of the CDC.  “All of these cigarettes contain harmful levels of carcinogens, but these findings show that amounts of tobacco-specific nitrosamines differ from country to country, and U.S. brands are the highest in the study.”

“Internal dose concentrations of urinary NNAL are significantly lower in smokers in countries that have lower TSNA levels in cigarettes such as Canada and Australia in contrast to countries that have high levels of these carcinogens in cigarettes, such as the United States,” researchers wrote in the report.

More than five million people die a year from smoking related illnesses.  Another four hundred thousand die of second hand smoke related illnesses.

The report was published in the June issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.