CIGARETTES 'LACED WITH CHEMICALS'

The tobacco industry was accused yesterday of using covert methods to
maintain the addictiveness of cigarettes, including the use of
high-nicotine tobacco, additives such as ammonia to increase the "hit"
and flavourings such as cocoa and menthol to make it easier to inhale
and increase the appeal of smoking to children.

Medical leaders in Britain and the US called for new regulations to
cut the nicotine in cigarettes. They said tobacco industry officials
had secretly admitted they were purveyors of nicotine and that
cigarettes were merely the delivery mechanism for this addictive drug.

At simultaneous press briefings in London and Minnesota, the British
Medical Association and the American Medical Association urged their
governments to act to make cigarettes less addictive. They said
tobacco manufacturers should be forced to reduce the nicotine to zero
or negligible levels over the next five to ten years.

The BMA said it was the first time doctors had targeted the product -
the cigarette - rather than peripheral issues such as price or
advertising. Action to cut nicotine "could prevent a generation of
adolescents from becoming hooked".

A report by the American Medical Association, published in the journal
Tobacco Control, says cutting nicotine would be technically feasible
and effective. Dr Ron Davis, the editor, said: "If our two governments
heed the advice to take action to reduce the addictiveness of tobacco
products, the impact would be felt worldwide. Millions of lives could
be saved."

A nicotine-free cigarette called Next was introduced by Philip Morris
some years ago but it failed because it had to compete against well
known, nicotine-rich brands such as Marlboro, Dr Davis said.

Most smokers smoked for the nicotine but if that source of the drug
was removed they would be more likely to give up smoking and find
another source. The aim was to eliminate nicotine-laden cigarettes and
offer people who wanted nicotine a purer, cleaner supply of the drug
in the form of a patch, gum or spray. "If you give people an
alternative source there will not be a big black-market demand for the
drug."

Clive Bates, the director of Ash, the anti-smoking pressure group,
said it was the tar in cigarettes that was damaging to health rather
than the nicotine. "Smoking tobacco is like using a dirty syringe to
deliver the drug."

Regulations for nicotine substitutes such as gums and patches were
tighter than those governing cigarettes, he said.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry