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  Article date: 2002/01/07,Machines Smoke Differently Than People

You might take in fewer cancer-causing substances by smoking "light" or "low-tar" cigarettes — but only if you’re a cigarette-testing machine, not a human — says a new report from the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

The report is titled Risks Associated with Smoking Cigarettes with Low Machine-Measured Yields of Tar and Nicotine. It says if you’re a human, such cigarettes are just as likely to kill you as other cigarettes.

"People who switch to low-tar or light cigarettes from regular cigarettes are likely to inhale the same amount of cancer-causing toxins, and they remain at high risk for developing smoking-related cancers and other diseases," said Scott Leischow, PhD, chief of the NCI tobacco control research branch, commenting on the study.
Early Suggestions of Lower Risk Fail Time Test

Reports in the late 1960s and 1970s — when light and low-tar cigarettes were new — showed slightly lower lung cancer rates among those using them. Those types of cigarettes make up 97% of what is now sold in the US.

But the difference in lung cancer rates disappeared as time went by. This suggested the small benefit had been an illusion.

The NCI study found lung cancer death rates in the US and the United Kingdom kept going up during the same years that the amount of tar and nicotine in cigarettes was coming down.

Looking at two studies done 20 years apart by the American Cancer Society (ACS), the researchers found that smokers in the later study had an increased risk of lung cancer. This was true no matter how many cigarettes they smoked or how long they had been smoking.
Smokers Compensate for Filters, Low-Yield Tobaccos

But cancer rates went up while smoking-machine tests suggested the new cigarettes had fewer cancer-causing substances. The report said one reason for this is that people and machines smoke in different ways.

For example, filters — added to cigarettes during the 1960s and 1970s — are meant to add air to the incoming smoke, diluting it.

But unlike machines, smokers naturally cover those holes with their fingers and lips while smoking.

"Smokers should not believe that the tar and nicotine levels listed on a pack of cigarettes are what they are actually inhaling," said Leischow in a separate NCI publication about the report.

Studies show that because nicotine is addictive, smokers switching to lower-nicotine cigarettes smoke more cigarettes, puff more often, and/or inhale deeper to get the same amount of nicotine they’re used to. This cancels out any benefit from "lighter" cigarettes.

The report says tobacco companies’ documents show they knew all that, but ignored it. They chose instead to market "light" and "low-tar" cigarettes as safer alternatives to regular cigarettes.

Lung cancer rates finally began to fall in the late 1990s. At that time, the percentage of people smoking had also been falling, said the report.
Experts Says All Tobacco Products Cancer-Causing

Ron Todd, MSEd, director of tobacco control for the ACS, says "light" or "low-tar" cigarettes may actually do more harm than other cigarettes. People who otherwise might quit get a false sense of security from the safer-sounding terms.

"The best alternative to a regular cigarette isn’t a new one — it’s quitting," said Todd.

Use of a product such as the nicotine skin patch is the best option for those who feel that they must have nicotine from some source while they work to quit, Todd said.

The ACS offers free information on how to quit smoking, and a free Quitline through the 1-800-ACS-2345 toll-free numer, he added.

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