BRITAIN

MILD CIGARETTES CAUSE NEW WAVE OF CANCER

LOWTAR cigarettes are responsible for a new epidemic of lung cancer,
doctors have discovered. Bestselling brands such as Silk Cut and
Superkings Lights, marketed as less harmful than cigarettes with a higher
tar content, are associated with this new wave of cancer, which tends to
form in cells deep in the tiny pockets of the lungs.

Smokers of mild brands inhale more deeply and expose a larger surface of
lung tissue to cancercausing agents, suffering tumours further away from
the main airways that are normal with stronger cigarettes.

In America, where lowtar cigarettes were introduced earlier than in
Britain, the number of cases of adenocarcinoma has overtaken rates of other
forms of lung cancer which occur mainly in the bronchi, the main tubes
supplying the lungs with air ­ and smoke.

In Britain up to 10,000 new cases of adenocarcinoma are being diagnosed
every year. Only a handful of victims will be offered operations to attempt
to remove the tumour and surgery is less likely to be successful than in
other forms of cancer. Figures indicate that most victims will be dead
within five years.

The epidemic proportions of adenocarcinoma and its link with lowtar
cigarettes emerged from an analysis of cancer cases in Connecticut, where
detailed data going back to the 1950s have been stored.

Michael Thun, director of epidemiology at the American Cancer Society and
who led the study, said: "The idea that lowtar cigarettes are safer is
misleading because people change the way they smoke them. The milder the
cigarette the more likely a smoker is to inhale deeply into the lungs."

Thun's investigation, which involved more than 2m participants with a
higher proportion of white, well educated, middleclass people than the
general population, found a 17fold increase in cases of adenocarcinoma in
women between 1959 and 1991 and a 10fold increase in cases in men during
the same timeframe.

His research ruled out suggestions that better diagnosis might have caused
the upward trend. Adenocarcinoma became the most common lung cancer in the
United States in the 1980s, and paralleled the rise of the new breed of
lowtar milder cigarette preferred by most smokers. It had previously been
thought that cases of adenocarcinoma were not related to the lung damage
caused by cigarettes.

Other smaller studies this year both in Britain and in America have also
pointed to the beginnings of a new epidemic related to the switch to
lowtar cigarettes.

In addition, urine analyses have indicated that smokers of mild brands may
also keep up their nicotine intake by increasing the number of cigarettes
smoked every day.

Other work has identified the chemical cellulose acetate, an ingredient of
cigarette filters, as an additional cancercausing agent. Experiments by a
team from the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in New York found that when
tiny fibres of the material were embedded in the lungs of mice and observed
over six months, they caused tumours to develop.

There are no published national statistics tracing the incidence of
adenocarcinoma in Britain, but chest physicians believe the number of cases
has probably doubled in recent years.

Up to 25% of the 40,000 new lung cancers diagnosed annually may be
adenocarcinoma. Sir Richard Doll, Britain's leading researcher on smoking
and lung cancer who led the world in establishing the link between
cigarettes and the disease in the 1950s, said: "The incidence of
adenocarcinoma certainly has risen. The change in the type of cigarette
smoked is the principal factor responsible because you get much more
exposure of peripheral tissues."

Doctors say many smokers still believe that lowtar cigarettes will prevent
them getting cancer. Frances Calman, a consultant at Guy's and St Thomas's
Cancer Centre in London, said: "Patients tell us they have changed to a
lower tar brand as if that is going to help them get away with it."

Despite health warnings there are 16m smokers in Britain working their way
through 81 billion cigarettes a year. Heavy advertising emphasising the
mildness of the new generation of cigarettes has encouraged almost 9 out of
10 to opt for reduced tar brands.

The Tobacco Manufacturers Association declined to comment on the findings.