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Excerpts from Smokers 'misled' over low tar/What's your poison?

By Ian Murray, Times of London [02/16/99]

THE tobacco industry misleads smokers about the tar and nicotine that can be inhaled from "light" cigarettes, new research says today.

Some cigarettes without filters, sold as "full flavour", have less than half the nicotine content of brands sold as "ultra light" that were fitted with filters, the study found. In addition, smokers can inhibit filters that are the main device for reducing tar and nicotine inhalation by unconsciously shutting off vent holes.

A study by the tobacco industry found that 45 per cent of people who smoked an ultra-light brand blocked the vents to some degree with their lips, increasing the tar yield by 50 per cent. One smoker in ten at least doubled the tar yield by blocking the vents with their lips, the study said.

Smokers also tended to compensate for lower nicotine yields from light cigarettes by puffing more often. Other factors that determined the rate at which nicotine was absorbed were the porousness of the paper, and chemicals that altered the burn rate of the tobacco.

What's your poison?

The figures show the nicotine content of each cigarette in milligrams and as a percentage of the total weight

B&H UL 14.6, 2.2

Silk Cut Extra Mild 10.8, 1.7

B&H L 13.3, 1.8

Marlboro L 10.2, 1.7

Dunhill L 12.4, 1.7

Marlboro 9.6, 1.3

Rothmans 14.3, 1.8

(KS = king size; L = light; UL = ultra light)

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