Tobacco companies increase nicotine content

[Torsten]

Many people believe that the number of mg given on the packet of cigarettes refers to the nicotine content and hence to the addictive nature of tobacco, but this is not the case. The number refers to the tar content of the smoke. Most brands do not list the nicotine content anywhere on their product and hence users do not know which brands to smoke for a less addictive effect.

Now the Massachusetts health department has stated that average nicotine content of cigarettes has gone up by 10%. What's the point of education campaigns about the dangers of smoking if the companies are allowed to increase the addictive nature of their product?

T

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060829/ap_on_...easing_nicotine

U.S. report: More nicotine in cigarettes

By STEVE LeBLANC, Associated Press WriterTue Aug 29, 3:56 PM ET

The level of nicotine found in U.S. cigarettes has risen about 10 percent in the past six years, making it harder to quit and easier to get hooked, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Massachusetts Department of Health.

The study shows a steady climb in the amount of nicotine delivered to the lungs of smokers regardless of brand, with overall nicotine yields increasing by about 10 percent.

Massachusetts is one of three U.S. states to require tobacco companies to submit information about nicotine and the only state with data going back to 1998.

Public Health Commissioner Paul Cote Jr. called the findings "significant" and said the report was the first new release on nicotine yield in more than six years nationally.

The study found the three most popular cigarette brands with young smokers — Marlboro, Newport and Camel — delivered significantly more nicotine than they did years ago. Nicotine in Kool, a popular menthol brand, rose 20 percent. More than two-thirds of black smokers use menthol brands.

Calls to Philip Morris USA, the United States' largest cigarette maker and manufacturer of Marlboro cigarettes, and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., manufacturer of Kool and Camel cigarettes, were not immediately returned Tuesday.

The study tried to measure nicotine levels based on the way smokers actually use cigarettes, health officials said, in part by partially covering ventilation holes as they smoke and taking longer puffs. Traditional testing methods which do not take real-life smoking habits into account, typically report lower nicotine contents, officials said.

Of the 179 cigarette brands tested in 2004 for the report, 93 percent fell into the highest range for nicotine. In 1998, 84 percent of 116 brands tested fell into the highest range.

Smokers who choose "light" brands hoping to reduce their nicotine intake are out of luck, according to the report that found for all brands tested in 1998 and 2004, there was no significant difference in the total nicotine content between "full flavor," "medium," "light," or "ultra-light" cigarettes.

The finding means that health care providers trying to help smokers quit may have to adjust the strength of nicotine replacement therapies like nicotine patches and gums, according to Department of Public Health Associate Commissioner Sally Fogerty.

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On the Net:

Massachusetts Department of Health: http://trytostop.org/

[PD.]

Many people believe that the number of mg given on the packet of cigarettes refers to the nicotine content and hence to the addictive nature of tobacco, but this is not the case. The number refers to the tar content of the smoke.

They seem to have removed this little tidbit of information when the packs were redesigned and those lovely pictures were placed on them.

[tonus]

In 1945 75% of Australians smoked...GPs use to recommend cigarettes as a form of stress relief!!

Now the amount is just under 18-19% and reducing at a massive rate.

In Australia, at least, the tobacco companies are losing the control they once had...

People who started smoking sneaking cigs behind the shed have gone full circle again...sneaking cigs behind the shed.

Smoking fags is going underground! Who knows what sort of weird underground cigarette culture will arise .

Maybe one day people will start growing/smoking organic tobacco and coming to terms with the powerful nature of this sacred spirit...

Must be powerful...most addictive and destructive herb so far harnessed by humanity!

[Torsten]

In Australia, at least, the tobacco companies are losing the control they once had...

Teenage smoking is on a dramatic increase in australia just the last few years. The message is wearing off.

[tonus]

Teenage smoking is on a dramatic increase in australia just the last few years. The message is wearing off.

Athough teenage smoking was on the rise for some recent years as far as I understand it it wasn't, and isn't, a dramatic increase. I work on a smoking cessation programme and will look at some recent stats.

As for the message wearing off...the 'message' has only just started!!

Cultural forces are place, (dodgy advertising, stigma if your a smoker, price hikes, smoke free places), which have and will begin to have further effect on smokers across all age barriers and all levels/domains of society.

It is in certain parts of the lower-socio economic level of society, where smoking is so very prevalent, where the anti-smoking message will take the longest to come home. Yet this is the level of society which can afford to smoke the least...imagine spending 1/4-1/3 of your pension/allowance on cigarrettes!!!??? And some people do!!!

I think the telling statistics will start to come out in a year or two: a year or two after the introduction of smoke free public spaces, dodgy advertising EVERYWHERE, (on every major media), and the cultural forces such campaigning will set in place.

There is an anti-smoking virus going around...

[stonewolf]

The problem with anti smoking campaigns is that they encourage further government interference into day to day lives. I see anti smoking campaigns as a metaphore for the "war on drugs" we are being subjugated to. If the government succeeds in restricting/stopping the use of a currently completely legal drug then they can surely beat billy bong smoker into submission. I may not have explained my point very well so I will just sum it up. If the government can stop/reduce smoking then it doesnt bode well for any of us here.

[Frank Costanza's Lawyer]

That antismoking virus has already killed some of my favourite hang outs, the hookah cafes. Most of my mates are wogs, and we would sit at the coffee shops for hours smoking sheesha, eating baklava and turkish delight, and having loud conversations. Now we all have to come to my shitty shared accommodation and smoke overpriced low quality sheesha on my balcony with cheap coffee and biscuits. Not as pleasant IMO, especially because most my wog mates are hated by the intolerant assholes I live with. Luckily rumour has it a hookah only "cafe" has opened near Surfers Paradise somewhere, will have to journey down and check it out at some stage.

Cheers

FCL

Edited August 31, 2006 by Frank Costanza's Lawyer

[stonewolf]

That antismoking virus has already killed some of my favourite hang outs, the hookah cafes. Most of my mates are wogs, and we would sit at the coffee shops for hours smoking sheesha, eating baklava and turkish delight, and having loud conversations. Now we all have to come to my shitty shared accommodation and smoke overpriced low quality sheesha on my balcony with cheap coffee and biscuits. Not as pleasant IMO, especially because most my wog mates are hated by the intolerant assholes I live with. Luckily rumour has it a hookah only "cafe" has opened near Surfers Paradise somewhere, will have to journey down and check it out at some stage.

Cheers

FCL

I've heard the hookah cafe in west end is going to reopen...

[sobriquet]

While I certainly understand the point about anti-smoking being a form of governmental intervention that may lead to justification of other regulations, I think that smoking is certainly something which affects more than just the one smoking.

Same with oral snuff, someone who spits out the stuff here, there and everywhere begins to affect people other than themselves.

Even chewing gum is obnoxious when people (ab)use it in ways that affect others. How many times have you cursed the person who left gum on a seat or on the ground where your shoes have become stuck in it?

I think that the regulation of smoking may actually help to bring about a new enlightened view of other drugs in regulated ways. The regulated model has been shown to be workable for tobacco and alcohol and there's no reason why other drugs can't come under this umbrella also. The idea of everything becoming a free-for-all is as unworkable as prohibition in my view.

Just my view which not everyone will or needs to agree with.

[tonus]

Found these stats in the:

Non Smokers' Update

Issue 13, July 1996

The Non-Smokers' Movement of Australia Inc, Box K860, Haymarket NSW 1240.

Phone and Fax 02 9638-1171.

Male % Female %

Age 12 13 14 15 16 17 12 13 14 15 16 17

1984 10 17 24 29 29 27 8 18 29 34 34 30

1987 5 10 19 25 27 25 5 13 22 28 30 29

1990 6 11 17 22 25 24 5 13 20 29 28 28

1993 8 13 20 24 27 28 7 14 23 28 28 31

There is some increase in some levels but overall the numbers are fairly steady over this 10 year period. I reckon more recent stats would show a down turn which correlates with general overall decrease in smoking in Australia.

The problem with anti smoking campaigns is that they encourage further government interference into day to day lives. I see anti smoking campaigns as a metaphore for the "war on drugs" we are being subjugated to. If the government succeeds in restricting/stopping the use of a currently completely legal drug then they can surely beat billy bong smoker into submission. I may not have explained my point very well so I will just sum it up. If the government can stop/reduce smoking then it doesnt bode well for any of us here.

Problem as I see it with cigarettes is that it is, for most people, not a life-style choice but a really strong addiction that leads to very compulsive behaviour with really dodgy medical/social/psychological consequences. And in the end...part of this behaviour involves paying tobacco giants and the government loads of money to kill you ever so slowly.

Regarding government interference in people's lives the anti-smoking campaign is funded by the Cancer Institute, (tobacco taxes), co-ordinated with the help of State Health, and is greatly powered by concerned people who see a big con being perpetrated upon people.

That antismoking virus has already killed some of my favourite hang outs, the hookah cafes. Most of my mates are wogs, and we would sit at the coffee shops for hours smoking sheesha, eating baklava and turkish delight, and having loud conversations. Now we all have to come to my shitty shared accommodation and smoke overpriced low quality sheesha on my balcony with cheap coffee and biscuits. Not as pleasant IMO, especially because most my wog mates are hated by the intolerant assholes I live with. Luckily rumour has it a hookah only "cafe" has opened near Surfers Paradise somewhere, will have to journey down and check it out at some stage.

It is a shame that social networking has been effected that way. Maybe a spin off from all this will be that people will start growing their own tobacco and gathering around this spirit in a way which honours and respects its power.