• 2/22/2008
  • Evanston, IL
  • Lisa Watson
  • MedIll Report (news.medill.northwestern.edu)

Candy-flavored cigarettes in bright packages, dissolvable tobacco tablets, chemical additives to increase addiction, and clever marketing have helped tobacco companies counter restrictions and declining smoking rates, according to a report released Wednesday.

These innovations are garnering more support for pending legislation that would give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration power to regulate the design and marketing of tobacco products.

There is a “new generation of designer tobacco products,” that is unregulated by the government, said Mary Maryland, incoming president of the Illinois division of the American Cancer Society, at a news conference at the Chicago Children’s Museum Wednesday. “Tobacco products come in more forms, flavors, shapes and sizes, with more unproven health claims than ever before, all with the goal of getting kids to smoke and to keep smokers addicted.”

The report, “Big Tobacco’s Guinea Pigs: How an Unregulated Industry Experiments on America’s Kids and Consumers,” details trends in the tobacco industry designed to attract new users and keep old ones.

Issued by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the report documents additions that cigarette companies make to tobacco to encourage new users and discourage current users from quitting:

– New smokeless products, such as dissolvable tobacco tablets, are promoted as a way to get a nicotine “fix” in places where smoking is prohibited. Camel Snus and Marlboro Snus are the newest examples, currently in test markets around the United States.

– Flavorings mask the harshness of smoking, making it easier for new smokers to become accustomed to the taste, but often introduce added carcinogens. Flavors such as lime, mint, strawberry, pineapple and vanilla are likely to appeal to young smokers, Maryland said.

– Added ammonia converts the nicotine in cigarette smoke into its “freebase” form. In other drugs, such as cocaine, the freebase form is recognized as more addictive because it reaches the brain more quickly. This technique may have been more important than the Marlboro Man in boosting Marlboro’s popularity in the 1970s, the report says.

– Health claims such as “less tar” or “light” lead consumers to believe they are choosing a healthier option, when this is not proven. According to a 2001 study by the U.S. National Cancer Institute, the amount of tar in these products is reduced when measured by smoking machines. However, in practice, people who use these products inhale more frequently, take more frequent puffs or increase the number of cigarettes they smoke.

– Increased nicotine levels make it more difficult to quit. In addition, non-FDA approved nicotine products like Skoal and Snus claim to help people stop smoking, when they may actually discourage people from quitting.

These additions make tobacco products more addictive and more hazardous, but unlike other legal drugs, they are not regulated by the government, according to the report.

“Tobacco products are far from tobacco rolled in paper,” said Maryland. “They are highly engineered nicotine delivery devices. Regulation would certainly be appropriate. Most Americans don’t know that many chemicals are added to cigarettes to make them more addictive because the tobacco companies are not currently required to disclose anything about their products.”

Tobacco companies are prohibited from marketing to children, but Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said these rules are not effective enough. “You can’t stop those who are currently addicted — it’s almost like prohibition, it’s not going to happen,” Durbin said at the news conference. “But if you can cut off the new smokers, if you can stop the recruitment of children, you will see the number of smokers diminish over the years.”

These concerns lead the report to support the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, pending in Congress, which would give the FDA authority to regulate ingredients in tobacco products as well as marketing.

If the bill passes, the FDA would be able to require that companies disclose ingredients in tobacco products, prohibit misleading health claims, require changes to existing products and review new products before they could be sold.

“If we don’t step up there will be another generation of death,” Durbin said. “Death created by the tobacco industry.”