18 juillet 2008
Cigarette menthol levels manipulated?
WASHINGTON — Tobacco companies deliberately changed the
menthol levels in cigarettes depending upon whom they were marketing them to —
lower levels for young smokers who preferred the milder brands and higher
levels to "lock in lifelong adult smokers," researchers at the
Harvard School of Public Health concluded.
Their finding is based on a review of more than 500 internal
tobacco-industry documents from 1985 through 2007.
Researchers said the documents showed that tobacco companies
studied how controlling levels of menthol could increase brand sales. They
concluded new and young smokers liked mild menthol that masked the harshness of
tobacco smoke. Veteran smokers, the companies are said to have concluded,
favored stronger doses of menthol for its cooling effects on their throats.
The findings come as Congress weighs whether to grant the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco products, including
additives, at the national level. The bill would allow the FDA to ban all
cigarette flavorings except menthol. If FDA tests of menthol showed it added to
the health risks of smoking, the agency could ban menthol, too.
No conclusive evidence shows menthol cigarettes to be more
harmful than conventional ones, said Terry Pechacek, the associate director of
the Office of Smoking and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
Pechacek said there was evidence that menthol smokers had a
harder time quitting.
Menthol has proven appeal to young people and is popular among
African-American smokers, two-thirds or more of whom smoke mentholated brands,
according to Gregory Connolly, a co-author of the report and the director of
Harvard's Tobacco Control Research Program.
According to the program's lab tests of menthol concentrations
in cigarettes since 2000, menthol went down in brands the young preferred and
went up in brands that were aimed at older smokers.
According to the Harvard researchers' report, the "rapid
introduction" of new milder menthol brands violates a provision in the
Master Settlement Agreement of 1998 between tobacco companies and state
governments that prohibits them from targeting youths.
14 juillet 2008
Philip Morris USA and new filter cigarettes
RICHMOND, — Philip Morris USA, the nation's No. 1 tobacco company, said Monday it has ended test markets of Marlboro-branded cigarettes that use a high-technology filter.
The operating company of Altria Group Inc. said it pulled the plug on Marlboro Ultra Smooth and Marlboro Ultra Light cigarettes, which used an activated carbon filter to deliver nicotine with potentially less exposure to carcinogens than in conventional cigarettes.
Philip Morris said it stopped making new shipments of Marlboro Ultra Smooth to wholesalers on April 1. Those cigarettes were being tested in Atlanta, Tampa, Fla., and Salt Lake City for more than three years. Marlboro Ultra Lights in Phoenix and North Dakota, and Basic Ultra Lights in Washington state also were discontinued, the company said.
"We did see lower consumer acceptance of those products in some of the test markets," said spokesman Bill Phelps. "These are test markets and they're designed to help us learn a lot of things. In the case of Ultra Smooth, it was designed to help us understand consumer acceptance of those particular products' taste and flavor."
Phelps said the company had made no claims that the products reduced health risks.
Shares of Altria rose 12 cents to $20.90 Monday.
Philip Morris saw a 4.6 percent decline in cigarette sales volume last year, but said that is estimated to be down 3.6 percent when adjusted for calendar differences and other factors. The industrywide decline is estimated at 4 percent in the United States.
The company has projected that cigarette sales volume will fall between 2.5 percent to 3 percent in the U.S. over the next few years because of concerns about health, smoking bans and price increases.
In turn, Philip Morris is looking to growing its business in other tobacco categories and reduced-risk products, Phelps said.
"We remain committed to our overall objective of reducing the harm caused by cigarette smoking," Phelps said. "That work will continue both for conventional lit-end cigarettes as well as what we would describe as noncombustible tobacco products."
Last year, the company began testing of its Marlboro-branded moist smokeless tobacco product — cut tobacco placed in the mouth — in Atlanta and recently expanded to counties in the surrounding metropolitan area. It also began testing a moist powdered tobacco called Marlboro Snus in Dallas last year, and also has expanded the test to Indianapolis.
04 juillet 2008
Cigarette tax kicking butt
PITTSFIELD — Smokers felt the first burn of the state's new $1 tax increase on cigarettes yesterday.
"It's disgusting, people can't live today with all of these taxes, it's killing business," said a patron of A-Mart on North Street, who identified himself as "Stoney."
The statewide cigarette tax increase of $1 went into effect yesterday, after passage in the Legislature late Monday and Gov. Deval L. Patrick's signature yesterday.
In January, the average nationwide price of a pack of cigarettes was $4.25, as reported by a study tracking state cigarette prices, but in Massachusetts, an average pack cost $5.41.
With the total tax now at $2.51, Massachusetts now
Projections are that the tax hike will raise up to $174 million in revenues to help support the state's health insurance programs. Medical News Today, an online newsletter reported in February that the state's subsidized health insurance coverage could cost the state as much as $1.35 billion over the next several years.
"If they were smart, they would have the same tax that New Hampshire has," said Mark Parrott, manager of A-Mart in Pittsfield, where he was tagging new prices yesterday.
The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids reports that New Hampshire's cigarette tax is $1.08 per pack.
"They claim that they will raise $175 million with
this tax increase, but they will actually raise less, because they are not going to get the same number of consumers that they had before," said Parrott. "Some are going to quit smoking, and others are going to go to (buy in) other states."
For smokers, the cigarette tax adds to the increasing cost of gas and other commodities. But lawmakers hope the new tax will cause consumers to quit smoking.
But some smokers won't quit.
"Smoking is undoubtedly an addiction, in fact, it is more addictive than many more expensive drugs," said Emily Blanchard, community health worker for the Berkshire Area Health Education Center.
"Everyone has their own individual struggles, for one person it might be more difficult to quit than it would be for another person," she said.
During the month of June, the state was offering free two-week supplies of nicotine patches to individuals who called 1-800-trytostop. The program may continue depending on how successful it was, Blanchard told the Eagle.
Though Gloria Wilson feels the tax is too much, none of her friends seem upset by the increased tax, she said.
For many smokers, cigarettes use has been a part of their lifestyles since they were teenagers, said Wilson, a Pittsfield resident.
"I have smoked since I was 14," she said.
Pittsfield resident Anne Bishop, who was smoking a cigarette at a North Street park on Tuesday, said she's been smoking since she was in high school.
"I could quit if I wanted to, I have in the past, I could quit if they kept increasing the tax," Bishop said, but she indicated no intentions of quitting now.
She said cigarettes are not the products that should receive a tax increase.
"I think instead of increasing (the tax on) cigarettes, they should increase a liquor tax," Bishop said. "Drinking is more of a problem to quit, they should increase an alcohol tax. People drink, and then that makes them smoke more," she said.