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‘Low-tar’ or ‘light’ cigarettes just as dangerous as ‘regulars’
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Smokers of light, ultra-light and mild cigarettes are no healthier than people who smoke regular cigarettes, the National Cancer Institute said Tuesday.
The health agency’s 236-page study accuses tobacco companies of misleading consumers about the health advantages of using low-tar and filtered smokes.
The findings, based largely on millions of pages of internal tobacco company documents made public during recent litigation, are the first to report conclusively that low-tar cigarettes are no safer than other cigarettes.
Officials with the National Cancer Society, the American Heart Association and the American Lung Association quickly endorsed the findings.
“To put it bluntly, low-tar and low nicotine cigarettes are a scam, a gimmick, and actually may put people at greater risk,” said Heart Association chief executive officer Cass Wheeler.
A spokesman for New York-based Philip Morris denied that the nation’s largest cigarette maker is misleading anyone. Labels, such as “light” “mild” and “full-flavored” refer to the cigarette’s taste, not its health risks, the spokesman said.
“We do not imply in our marketing, and smokers should not assume, that lower-yielding (tar) brands are safer than full-flavored brands,” said Brendan McCormick. “Philip Morris agrees that there is no safe cigarette.”
That wasn’t always the case.
For years, cigarette makers and even surgeon generals suggested that low-tar cigarettes were less dangerous than high-tar products. In the 1950s, scientists had discovered that laboratory mice develop cancer when their skin is painted with cigarette-tar.
So cigarette companies began offering low-tar products as an option for health-conscious consumers. They were highly popular. Today, about 87 percent of all cigarettes sold in the United States are low-tar brands.
But tar is just one of the many cancer-causing agents (called carcinogens) found in cigarette smoke. Lowering the tar levels doesn’t lower the health risks, the NCI found.
In addition, cigarette smokers who switch to low-tar cigarettes end up smoking more cigarettes or inhaling the smoke more deeply to compensate for the decrease in tar, researchers said.
The study also found that filtered cigarettes are no safer than unfiltered smokes.
The search for safer cigarettes continues.
One example is Omni, made by Vector Tobacco, which says it has “reduced carcinogens. Premium taste.”
Health advocates Tuesday criticized such products, saying the federal government has not substantiated or verified these claims.
Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, who attended Tuesday’s press conference, said the latest study gives the media “a marvelous opportunity to wake up America_especially smoking America.”
Added Koop: “The only way to avoid the harm caused by tobacco products is to stop using them."
Frank E. Lockwood, Knight Ridder Newspapers