CANCER INSTITUTE'S WARNING ON CIGARS JUST AS BAD AS CIGARETTES

A task force of more than 50 scientists recruited by the National Cancer
Institute added to the woes of the tobacco industry yesterday with a strong
warning that regular cigar smoking causes most of the same deadly diseases
as cigarettes.

Although most cigar smokers may run somewhat lower risks of lung cancer and
coronary heart disease, the health experts cited a long and ominous list of
other cigar-caused malignant tumors.

Cancers of the lip, tongue, mouth, throat, larynx and esophagus head the
list -- and all of them can spread to other parts of the body and
ultimately prove fatal, the report said.

As for cigar smokers who actually inhale, the scientists warned that their
risks of developing lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and
heart disease are similar to those faced by pack-a-day cigarette smokers.

``The data are clear,'' said Dr. Richard D. Klausner, director of the
cancer institute yesterday. ``The toxic substances and carcinogens in cigar
smoke, like cigarettes, are associated with increased risks of several
kinds of cancer as well as heart and lung disease. In other words, cigars
are not safe alternatives to cigarettes and may be addictive.''

The cancer institute's 232-page monograph on cigars and their dangers was
released at a highly strategic moment, for it came only a day after a
deadline imposed by the Federal Trade Commission on the nation's five
biggest cigar manufacturers to report the total number of cigars sold and
the dollar value of those sales in 1996 and 1997.

The manufacturers were also under orders to disclose how much they spend on
advertising and promotion -- numbers the industry has not made public in
the past.

Cigar smoking has become more and more fashionable in the past few years as
cigar bars have sprung up in many cities and many smokers have come to
believe that cigars are inherently safer than cigarettes. A cigar magazine
now promotes celebrities enjoying their stogies in a hip, trendy
atmosphere. And high schools around the country have reported more
teenagers lighting up cigars rather than cigarettes after school.

In a statement yesterday, Norman F. Sharp, president of Washington, D.C.'s
Cigar Association of America, said:

``Cigar smokers are mature, well-informed individuals who freely chose to
enjoy the product that has brought pleasure to billions of people over the
past 500 years, and to the extent that this report adds to their knowledge,
we welcome it.''

The National Cancer Institute's report, however, can hardly provide welcome
news to cigar-makers, for it noted that cigars and the smoke they release
contain many of the same toxic chemicals as cigarettes. They include
nicotine, carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, ammonia and aldehydes, as well
as such widely known human cancer-causing agents as benzene, vinyl
chloride, ethylene oxide, arsenic, cadmium, nitrosamines and polynuclear
aromatic hydrocarbons.

``To those individuals who may be thinking about smoking cigars, our advice
is -- don't,'' Klausner said in a summary of the report. ``To those
currently smoking cigars, quitting is the only way to eliminate completely
the cancer, heart and lung risks.''

The government health institute's report noted many instances in which
cigar smoke can prove even more dangerous than the fumes from cigarettes.
For example, a large cigar emits up to 20 times the ammonia, five to 10
times more cancer-causing cadmium metal, and as much as 90 times more of
the highly carcinogenic nitrosamines found specifically in tobacco. And
compared with nonsmokers, the scientists found, smoking only one or two
cigars a day doubles the risk of cancers in the mouth and creates a sixfold
increase in the risk of cancer of the larynx.

Researchers who prepared the detailed report said they recently measured
the concentration of carbon monoxide at two ``cigar social events'' in San
Francisco, and found that the levels were higher than the air on a busy
California freeway; in a separate study the scientists found that smoke
from a single large cigar burned in a home required five hours to
dissipate. No detailed and well-controlled studies of the health effects of
cigar smoke have been made, the report said, but it added that ``a
significant body of evidence clearly demonstrates an increased lung cancer
risk from secondhand (cigar) smoke.

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly
12 million American adults now smoke cigars regularly, and some 6 million
youngsters ages 14 to 19 smoked at least one cigar last year. The Cigar
Association said cigar smoking hit bottom in America in 1993, when sales
reached only 3.4 billion units. For last year, the association estimates
that sales jumped by 53 percent to 5.2 billion units -- a big jump, but
still far below the peak year of 1973, when 11.2 billion cigars were sold.

)1998 San Francisco Chronicle