DF_A_FT
BACKGROUND BRIEFING- PAPER C
ALLUCATION
In most developing countries international tobacco
companies
,~r~_.2pposed to the_publication of 'tar' and
nicotine tables and
decline to reveal the 'tar' and nicotine
deliveries of their
brands
RESPONSE
The publication of 'tar' and nicotine tables has
been brought
about in a number of developed and some developing
countries by
legislation or government pressure on the
industry. The
governments involved apparently consider that
these two
substances are of prime importance in relation to
certain
dis eases which the opponents of smoking*have
attributed to
cigarette smoking. In addition, some governments
have
introduced official league tables to replace
tables already
published by independent consumer associations,
the results of
which had proved to be suspect and unreliable.
'Tar' is, in fact, a misnomer. Contrary to popular
belief,
cigarette 'tar' is not something to which human
smokers are
exposed. 'Tar' more properly describes specific
laboratory
products obtained from several distinct laboratory
procedures.
There are a number of ways of defining and
measuring 'tar',
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e.g. 'total particulate matter', 'dry particulate
matter', and
'particulate matter, water and nicotine free'.
Moreover, the
'tar' collected from different brands of
cigarettes, and even
the same brand of cigarettes depending on the time
'period and
testing procedures used, may have quantitative and
qualitative
differences t.hat could make comparisons between
table results
in different countries misleading and even
invalid.
Further, the popular but unscientific notion that
the exposure
of smokers to various cigarette smoke constituents
can be
determined by machine measurement is untenable.
The rate and
amount of delivery of various smoke constituents
depend upon
too many uncontrolled factors which vary
considerably among
smokers, including, for example, the number, size
and frequency
of puffs, the depth and degree of inhalation, the
length of the
butt remaining and even the time of da a person
smokes. In
contrast, the measurements of 'tar' and nicotine
are made from
smoke produced by smoking cigarettes mechanically
under a set
of defined laboratory conditions. If laboratory
conditions
were standardised they might enable the comparison
of two or
more products, but they cannot reproduce the way
in which the
individual smokes a cigarette. Nor is the problem
of possible
qualitative differences resolved.
As to the alleged 'harmful' constituents of
cigarette smoke,
such claims are usually made about 'tar',
nicotine, and carbon
monoxide. In the past, much effort and research
has been
devoted to understanding tobacco use and health.
Yet, in spite
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of all the research that has been done, no-one has
ever estab-
lislied that any ingredient or group of
ingredients, as found in
tobacco smoke, is harmful to humans. Therefore,
the scientific
basis for the claim that certain levels of 'tar'
and nicotine
as found in cigarette smoke have h-ealth
conseqences is lacking.
The international tobacco companies, therefore,
oppose the
publication of league tables because they are
likely to be very
misleading to the consumer in several major urays.
The tables
might well suggest that levels of certain
ingredients in
tobacco smoke have proven health significance. The
consumer
might be misled to believe that he is actually
exposed to the
published levels of the constituents, when indeed
there are too
many variations in an individual's exposure. The
problem of
use of differing methodologies and definitions for
determining
the levels of these smoke constituents would
result in the
publication of noncomparable and, consequently,
valueless
information.
In view of the international tobacco companies'
opposition to
the publication of league tables on the above
grounds, it may
seem inconsistent that in certain countries they
make reference
to 'tar' and nicotine levels in their brand
promotion and
advertising. There is in fact no inconsistency.
Press reports
and other public information in those countries
generated a
trend among smokers t"o select brands with low
'tar' and
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nicotine levels. Where there is an emerging or
potential I'D
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consumer trend towards such brands, companies are
entitled, in N-)
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trying to achieve market share through advertising
and
promotion, to give the -consumer information about
the
availability of low tar, low nicotine brands.
September, 1982
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