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ASH comment on Royal College of Physicians report "Nicotine Addictionin Britain"

Nicotine addiction report is major broadside on low-tar cigarettes andEuropean tobacco regulation

The new report of the Royal College of Physicians ranks cigarettes on a parwith heroin as an addictive drug and sinks the arguments for low tar cigaretteswith a devastating critique of the measurements that allow tobacco manufacturersto claim their products are low in tar.

Clive Bates, Director of ASH and member of the RCP's Tobacco Advisory Groupsaid: "The Royal College has sounded the death-knell for low tar cigarettesand the comforting but wrong idea that these are somehow less dangerous. It'sa bad day for Silk Cut and Marlboro Lights"

A new EU directive on regulation of tar and nicotine is under negotiation atpresent - the RCP report means that the proposal will have to be modified toremove its focus on machine measured tar-yields as the main basis for regulationof cigarettes.

"You couldn't have a more a withering and detailed critique of themethodologies underpinning the regulation of the harm caused by cigarettes. TheRoyal College has served up the arguments needed to change the course ofEuropean cigarette regulation." said Bates.

The other major findings of the report are that a proper regulatory frameworkneeds to be established which recognises smoking as a drug condition, and thattreatment of tobacco addiction becomes a mainstream and universally availableservice in the NHS.

"The RCP is basically saying that society should wake up and recognisethat it has deadly and pervasive addictive drug syndrome covering quarter of theadult population and that we should stop pretending that cigarettes are justsome innocuous or quirky lifestyle habit." said Bates.

"The fact that they are legal is irrelevant ­ cigarettes are harddrugs by any physical or medical definition." said Bates

Some key quotes from the report

"Cigarettes are highly efficient nicotine delivery devices and are asaddictive as drugs such as heroin and cocaine" (cover)

"Current approaches to characterising the tar and nicotine yield oftobacco products are simplistic and misleading to consumers and regulatorsalike, and should be abandoned." (p. 187)

"Harm reduction strategies based on naïve interpretation of tar andnicotine yield measurements should be discontinued. In practical terms, thismeans abandoning the strategy of seeking lower nominal tar yields and insteadfinding approaches that genuinely reduce harm to nicotine users. Branding suchas 'light', 'mild' and other words or imagery that imply a reduced health riskattributable to low tar or nicotine measurements should be banned unless anduntil convincing evidence of reduced health risks is forthcoming." (p. 187)

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