ctivnan
12/17/07, 11:52 AM
Raising nicotine, on the sly :smoking2:
Evidence of what looks like an increasingly desperate effort to hook new young smokers and prevent older ones from quitting has been uncovered by Massachusetts law that forces tobacco companies to report test results showing how much nicotine is inhaled by typical smokers of their various brands.
[Recently], the Massachusetts Department of Public Health revealed that from 1998 through 2004, as public health campaigns were mounted to curb smoking, the manufacturers increased the amount of addictive nicotine delivered to the average smoker by 10 per cent. Of 179 cigarette brands tested in 2004, an astonishing 166 brands fell into the state's highest nicotine yield range. Virtually all brands were found to deliver enough nicotine to cause heavy dependence.
This trend has escaped notice because the government test uses a smoking machine that fails to mimic real-life smoking. A manufacturer, for example, can design a cigarette that will score low in nicotine by placing tiny ventilation holes in the filter to dilute the smoke. But in real life, a smoker will often cover the vents with lips or fingers, thereby inhaling a higher dose of nicotine. ...
It is long past time for Congress to bring this damaging ... industry under federal regulatory control.
International Herald Tribune
Evidence of what looks like an increasingly desperate effort to hook new young smokers and prevent older ones from quitting has been uncovered by Massachusetts law that forces tobacco companies to report test results showing how much nicotine is inhaled by typical smokers of their various brands.
[Recently], the Massachusetts Department of Public Health revealed that from 1998 through 2004, as public health campaigns were mounted to curb smoking, the manufacturers increased the amount of addictive nicotine delivered to the average smoker by 10 per cent. Of 179 cigarette brands tested in 2004, an astonishing 166 brands fell into the state's highest nicotine yield range. Virtually all brands were found to deliver enough nicotine to cause heavy dependence.
This trend has escaped notice because the government test uses a smoking machine that fails to mimic real-life smoking. A manufacturer, for example, can design a cigarette that will score low in nicotine by placing tiny ventilation holes in the filter to dilute the smoke. But in real life, a smoker will often cover the vents with lips or fingers, thereby inhaling a higher dose of nicotine. ...
It is long past time for Congress to bring this damaging ... industry under federal regulatory control.
International Herald Tribune