Claim of `safer cigarette’ draws anger from lobby group: [1 All-round Country Edition]
Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 07 Nov 2005: 3.
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Abstract
“It is a regulative black hole,” she said. “Many Australians will be conned into smoking these products unless we have a national regulatory framework in place that will test these marketing claims of less dangerous cigarettes. The current regulatory vacuum is exactly what the tobacco industry wants. Smoking kills 18,000 Australians every year.”
Company spokesman David Betteridge claimed the new cigarettes “look and taste like normal cigarettes”. He refused to divulge thename under which the cigarettes would be marketed but claimed the company had improved the way it dried tobacco leaves to reduce cancer-causing toxins when burnt.
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THE anti-smoking lobby reacted with outrage yesterday to the revelation that a new “safer” cigarette was about to be launched.
British American Tobacco will soon begin promoting the controversial new cigarette designed to cut the risk of smoking- related diseases, such as cancer and heart failure, by up to 90per cent.
The cigarettes use tobacco treated to produce lower levels of cancer-causing chemicals. They also incorporate a new filter said to remove more toxins.
Anne Jones, chief executive of anti-smoking group ASH, said consumers needed to be aware of the long history of deceptive claims bythe tobacco industry.
Low-tar cigarettes, hailed by the industry as a safer form of smoking when they were introduced in the 1970s, have proven to be just as harmful, as have mild cigarettes because people smoke more and take deeper drags.
Ms Jones said the use of the word “safer” was about lulling people into continuing to smoke, but the claims need to be substantiated. “The tobacco companies know the new buzzword will be `safer’,” she said. “We have very good reason to be cynical about their claims.”
Ms Jones said it was ironic that safe nicotine alternatives, including patches, sprays and gums, were subjected to the same close scrutiny as any new medicine coming on to the Australian market, but not a new “safer” cigarette.
“It is a regulative black hole,” she said. “Many Australians will be conned into smoking these products unless we have a national regulatory framework in place that will test these marketing claims of less dangerous cigarettes. The current regulatory vacuum is exactly what the tobacco industry wants. Smoking kills 18,000 Australians every year.”
BAT plans to launch the cigarettes next year but has previously kept the move secret, knowing it would infuriate anti-smoking groups.
Company spokesman David Betteridge claimed the new cigarettes “look and taste like normal cigarettes”. He refused to divulge thename under which the cigarettes would be marketed but claimed the company had improved the way it dried tobacco leaves to reduce cancer-causing toxins when burnt.
The new cigarettes were designed by scientists at the firm’s British research centre in Southampton.
The cigarettes use “trionic” filters with three layers, each of which removes a different set of toxic compounds, while still allowing nicotine — the main addictive element in tobacco — to enter the lungs. The tobacco is also mixed with an inert “chalky” substance to retain more of the toxins in the ash.