Press Release
11 September 2000 immediate
'Cynical' tobacco manufacturers use additives to maskenvironmental tobacco smoke
After revelations[1] that tobacco companies added substances to mask the smell and visibility ofsmoke ASH reiterates calls for a proper regulatory framework for all aspects ofcigarette design - including and especially additives.
Clive Bates,Director of ASH said: "The only effective way to deal with the harm causedby passive smoking is to have smoking restrictions, which the tobacco companiesdefinitely want to avoid at all costs. They can't do much to reduce the risks of cancer, heart disease, asthmaand cot death to non-smokers, so it seems they went for a cosmetic approach totry to conceal the real dangers by dealing just with the acrid smell andvisibility of smoke. Once again theyare trying to give false reassurance both to smokers and non-smokers, hopingthat this will head off measures to deal with passive smoking.
"There isvirtually no legal regulation of what can be put in cigarettes and no questionsasked about what role any particular additive is supposed to have. In the pharmaceutical industry, thecompanies would be required to justify any additions to their products and showthese are safe. We think it isreasonable that the tobacco companies should prove that anything they add totheir products does not make an already bad problem worse."
On 21stSeptember the Government is expected to release its response to the House ofCommons Health Select Committee report: The Tobacco Industry and HealthEffects of Smoking [2] which called for a new regulatory agency which wouldregulate additives:
154. We believe responsibility for licensingadditives permitted for use in tobacco products sold in the UK should be passedto the Tobacco Regulatory Authority we propose below. We further believe thatthis body should take account of the overall public health impact of theinclusion of an additive in determining whether or not it should be permittedfor use in tobacco products.
158. We think that the position of the tobaccocompanies in withholding information on the additives their cigarettes containis completely untenable. Consumers have a right to know what they are smoking,including the percentage of the product such additives form, and we believethat this information should be available on every packet. We believe thecompanies should immediately take steps to ensure this is done and that theSecretary of State should introduce measures to make such labelling a mandatoryrequirement for cigarettes sold or manufactured in the UK.
[1] Connolly et al. How cigarette additives are usedto mask environmental tobacco smoke. TobaccoControl 2000;9:283-291
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Further info: seeASH report on Additives at:
Contact: Clive Bates, 020 7739 5902 (w) 0468 791237(m)
