all Gregory Connolly stories

Tobacco industry used cigarette menthol to recruit new adolescents and young adult smokers

404132862 — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:59:26 -0400

Researchers at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) have found that tobacco companies have deliberately adjusted menthol levels in cigarettes to recruit and addict young smokers by creating a milder experience for the first-time smoker.

Menthol masks the harshness and irritation of cigarettes, allowing delivery of an effective dose of nicotine, the addictive chemical in cigarettes. These milder products were then marketed to the youngest potential consumers.

Global momentum for smoke-free society

50443248 — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 16:02:54 -0400

In a perspective article in the April 12 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the Association of European Cancer Leagues describe the growing momentum for indoor smoking bans in countries across the globe. They identify Ireland’s pioneering 2004 comprehensive indoor smoking ban as a likely tipping point for fundamental change in social norms and public health worldwide.

Since 2004, in only a few years, more than a dozen other countries have also adopted national indoor smoke-free policies that are being implemented or will be implemented in the near future.

Smoke-free pubs keep Irish eyes smiling

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 06:25:30 -0400

A survey of air pollution levels in "Irish pubs" around the world has found that indoor air pollution in authentic Irish pubs in Ireland, where a smoke-free law has been in effect for two years, is 91 percent lower than in "Irish pubs" located in other countries and cities where smoke-free laws do not apply. Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), Roswell Park Cancer Institute and health authorities in Ireland collaborated on the project that assessed air samples from 128 "Irish pubs" in 15 countries in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia.

In March 2004, the Republic of Ireland became the first country to have a nationwide ban on indoor smoking in all public spaces -- including restaurants and pubs. The policy provides an opportunity to assess the effectiveness of comprehensive smoke-free laws by comparing Irish indoor public spaces to public spaces elsewhere. Despite claims that the law could have a negative economic impact, Ireland has seen no decline in business at pubs and restaurants and, in fact, business in that sector has improved according to the Central Statistics Office (Ireland) (www.cso.ie).

Cigarette manufacturers developed candy-flavored brands to target youth

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:42:01 -0400

Despite assurances from cigarette makers that they no longer target the youth market, Harvard School of Public Health researchers found that new brands are being marketed to young smokers and racial/ethnic groups using colorful and stylish packaging and exploiting adolescents' attraction to candy flavors. The study appears in the November/December 2005 issue of the journal, Health Affairs. The researchers sifted through a database of more than 7 million internal tobacco industry documents spanning more than 30 years for information on alternative flavors and flavor technology used in the development of products targeting new and younger smokers. Carrie Carpenter, lead author of the study and a research analyst at HSPH, stated, "Flavored cigarettes can promote youth smoking initiation and help young occasional smokers to become daily smokers by reducing or masking the natural harshness and taste of tobacco smoke and increasing the acceptability of a toxic product." A 1993 internal document stated, "Growing interest in new flavor sensations (i.e. soft drinks, snack foods) among younger adult consumers may indicate new opportunities for enhanced- flavor tobacco products that could leverage [a brand's] current strength among younger adult smokers." Internal research by the tobacco industry showed manufacturers that they could capitalize on youths' attraction to candy flavors. They used innovative product technology, such as a flavor pellet embedded in one company's cigarette filters, to deliver fruit and liqueur flavors. Some of the flavored cigarettes the companies have developed include; Mandarin Mint, Mocha Taboo, Mintrigue, Kauai Kolada, Margarita Mixer and others. Fruit and candy flavors were also added to smokeless tobacco products, cigars and cigarette rolling papers.

The study; "New Cigarette Brands with Flavors That Appeal to Youth: Tobacco Marketing Strategies; Health Affairs, November/ December 2005, Volume 24, number 6," was funded by the American Legacy Foundation and the National Cancer Institute.

Safer cigarettes would cut fire deaths if made available

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:36:25 -0400

Researchers at Harvard School of Public Health, funded by the American Legacy Foundation, compared the physical properties of cigarettes sold in New York with cigarettes of the same brands sold in Massachusetts and California. The researchers found: • That while not perfectly self-extinguishing, New York cigarettes were far less likely to burn to the end than cigarettes of the same brands in California and Massachusetts. Ten percent of a sample of five major cigarette brands sold in New York had a "full burn" compared to 99.8 percent of the California and Massachusetts cigarettes tested. • Reduced ignition was apparently achieved through banding of the cigarette paper. • Reviewing cigarette tax data for the past six months, the reduced ignition propensity (RIP) cigarettes appeared to have no effect on sales of cigarettes in New York, indicating consumer acceptance. • Based on the New York experience, prior industry objections to RIP cigarettes are unfounded, the report concludes. There is no valid reason why cigarette manufacturers should not sell RIP cigarettes nationwide.