Press Release - For immediate release: 23th January 2000

Responding to news of new tobacco treatment processes that remove harmful cancer-causing nitros amines from cigarette smoke, ASH said this is a great development and the way that future regulation of cigarettes must go.

Clive Bates Director of ASH said: "We know there will never be a safe cigarette, but that doesn't mean they can't be made less deadly. If it's possible for a tiny American company to cut out known cancer causing chemicals in cigarettes, then the Government should force all the British manufacturers to do it too."

ASH acknowledged the danger that these products might be seen as 'safe'. The answer is to force all of the companies to use this approach through regulation so that this becomes a common minimum safety standard.

Bates commented: "The danger is that these developments will be seen as 'safer cigarettes', that might reassure some people and reduce their motivation to quit. To stop that happening the Government should require all manufacturers to use this technology and tightly regulate any marketing claims or branding which attempts to suggest that these products are somehow safe."

ASH said that this is an important development because even if the Government achieves its targets in the White Paper, Smoking Kills, then about one in four (24%) of adults will still be smoking in 2010.

Bates added: "Even if the drive to help smokers quit succeeds beyond all expectations, at least one in six adults will still be smoking for the foreseeable future. Reducing the harm caused by each cigarette will help those that continue to smoke. We know that most long-term smokers are concentrated inthe poorest groups in society so this is important response to health inequalities."

ASH stressed that this approach was far better than the discredited 'low tar' cigarettes such as Silk Cut and Marlboro Lights.

"So-called 'light' cigarettes have seriously deceived consumers because they are only low-tar when smoked by machines. People are not machines,and smoke them more intensively to get the nicotine they need for a satisfactory hit."

END 

Notes to the editor

See ASH's expose of Low Tar cigarettes (pdf)

See Star Scientific website: www.starscientific.com

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