The “light” cigarette scam continues to kill

SmokeFree Tasmania has slammed the tobacco industry for perpetuating the light cigarette fraud, putting thousands of smokers at greater risk of cancer.

“So-called light cigarettes are just as lethal and are engineered to taste smoother, increasing the chances of young people taking up smoking and becoming addicted” Dr. Nick Towle, Convenor, SmokeFree Tasmania said today.

According to an article soon to be published online in the international journal Addiction1 new research reveals the tobacco industry is producing more ‘light’ variants to their existing cigarette brands.

Associate Professor Steven Greenland from Swinburne University of Technology concluded his article by saying “New brands and variants were not inhibited by the introduction of plain packaging in Australia. After plain packaging, leading brand variant numbers expanded by 116 and colour variant names increased by 73.6% and became the norm-lighter colours (blue, gold and silver) dominated, perpetuating notions of less harmful cigarettes.”

The industry is working hard to sidestep the plain pack laws, and this rebranding effort only perpetuates the myth of a lighter, safer cigarette.

In 2005 the ACCC2 forced Imperial Tobacco to pay $1 million towards a campaign to explain to Australian consumers that “light” cigarettes were unsafe, and said that false lower tar“..cigarettes were likely to have breached the misleading and deceptive conduct provision(s)”.

“We know that these cigarettes are more attractive to kids3, and an aid in targeting young Tasmanians.”

Policy Advisor for SmokeFree Tasmania Dr. Kathryn Barnsley said “Once again the tobacco industry is trying to create a lifelong addiction in young Tasmanians. These cigarette engineering tricks are deceptive and misleading, and are a lethal scam.”

The engineering and design of cigarettes, particularly using filter ventilation to create the effect of a “lighter” tasting smoke, means modern cigarettes are more likely to cause lung cancers, than the cigarettes of the 1950s according to the US Surgeon General4.

“We know that so-called “light” cigarettes are more likely to cause cancers deep within the lungs, making them harder to treat and therefore more likely to kill patients.” Dr. Towle said5.
Former WHO tobacco control expert Dr. Harley Stanton said, “Right now the Tasmanian government has the opportunity to protect the next generation from the tobacco industry. Supporting the tobacco free generation proposal currently before the Legislative Council will tackle these new attempts by the tobacco industry to get more young Tasmanians addicted to cigarettes.”

Filter Ventilation – the core of the “light” cigarette fraud

This is what filter ventilation looks like. If you peel a filter off a so-called “light” or sham “low tar” cigarettes you can see little holes in the filter – one with labels of light colours like white or blue. These allow the smoke to go through, makes the cigarette taste less harsh, and is more attractive to children because it doesn’t taste as horrible. the trouble is smokers have to suck harder to get their nicotine “fix” and so the smoke goes deeper into their lungs.6 This causes lung cancers which are much harder to cure, and more likely to kill the smoker.

Refs …

1 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.13536/full
2 https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/accc-resolves-light-and-mild-cigarette-investigation-with-imperial-tobacco
3 http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/content/what_we_do/industry_watch/product_manipulation/2014_06_19_DesignedforAddiction_web.pdf
4 https://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/reports/50-years-of-progress/exec-summary.pdf
5 http://www.theadvocate.com.au/story/4219075/cancer-warning-on-light-smokes/?cs=87
6 http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/content/14/3/576.short

*Dr Kathryn Barnsley is a researcher, advocate and writer on tobacco control. She was formerly a member of the National Expert Advisory Committee on Tobacco, is a policy advisor to SmokeFree Tasmania, and was responsible for the development of the Public Health Act 1997, the Food Act 1998 and other tobacco and health legislation. She is assisting Hon Ivan Dean MLC in the passage of the Public Health Amendment (Tobaccofree Generation) Bill 2014.