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Smokers Interested In Smoking Less Needed For Harm Reduction Study, University Of Pittsburgh School Of Medicine 

Male and female smokers over the ages of 18 who would like to limit the amount they smoke are needed to participate in a smoking harm reduction research study at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Harm reduction, which involves limiting exposure to nicotine and tobacco, as opposed to quitting outright, is a fast-developing area of nicotine and tobacco research. Specifically, few treatment options have been tested for smokers who are not yet ready to quit, but who might consider cutting down.

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BAT Science 

Welcome to Research & Development at British American Tobacco, where you will find an overview of our current research and development programmes, research data and recently published papers and posters.

Cigarette smoking is a cause of serious and fatal diseases, so our research and development activities are principally focused on better understanding the mechanisms of harm caused by tobacco use and on developing potentially less harmful products which address this issue. The science of tobacco harm reduction is complex, extremely challenging and spans many scientific disciplines. We have significantly expanded our research capabilities and expenditure over the past few years to reflect the importance we place on work in this area.

We welcome your comments on this website and are pleased to discuss our science or possible collaboration with other scientists working in related areas. . . .

Harm reduction is a well-established public health concept that seeks pragmatic ways to minimise the health impact of an activity or behaviour which carries inherent risks.

An example of harm reduction strategy is the use of seat belts and airbags in cars.

However, in the context of tobacco and health policy, few governments currently support the development of reduced risk tobacco products. Most governments simply advocate prevention and cessation.

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• Tobacco and health: The smoking gun  

The tar yield displayed on the cigarette packet has become something of a ''safety'' guideline but, in the complex scientific and political world of research into smoking, the World Health Organisation and the US National Cancer Institute now say the level of risk is unchanged. There has been limited meeting of minds between tobacco and its considerable body of opponents on the basic health and safety issues. Overtures by the industry to set up joint research projects to reduce risks have made little headway.

"We are demonised,'' says one- time smoker David O'Reilly, BAT's head of public health and scientific affairs. Universities and their academic researchers shun tobacco money because they feel it is tainted and are uncomfortable about being dragged into awkward ethical issues. Jan de Plessis, BAT's non-smoking chairman, has offered to open doors and laboratories but was told by leaders of anti-smoking pressure groups:

"We do not want to sit down with a group responsible for an estimated 750,000 premature deaths each year.'' Governments are only too happy to sit down with the industry because they have it both ways. Tobacco is an important source of tax revenue and an easy target for pointing to an unhealthy lifestyle. . . .

The opposition is formidable and the deadly health argument impossible to counter. BAT, the world's second biggest group, is trying harder, combining aggressive defence with changes in behaviour and initiatives. Soul searching about its role in society, business values and the era of corporate and social responsibility has provided fertile ground for navel-gazing and ploughing funds into community projects and research.

The upshot is an extensive ''Harm Reduction'' programme encompassing a growing research and development commitment, fieldwork and extended consumer group studies. BAT hopes to attract the scientists into its laboratories via a website - BAT-science.com - to share its research findings with them. . . .

Science, says BAT, has still to determine which smokers will get a smoking-related disease and those who will escape. "Nor can science tell whether any individual became ill solely because they smoked,"

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SKC: Scientist tells of research on safer cigs 

Twenty-eight years ago, scientist Victor DeNoble was sitting around with a bunch of drunk monkeys when the telephone rang.

Executives with Philip Morris, the giant tobacco company, wanted him to come to work for them.

DeNoble was studying alcohol addiction at the time - hence, the drunk monkeys, including his favorite, Sarah - but Philip Morris wanted him to apply his knowledge of addiction to nicotine.

Specifically, they wanted him to create a man-made chemical to replace the nicotine in cigarettes.

The reason?

It takes nicotine just seven seconds to go from the lungs to the heart to the brain. . . .

"They told me, 'We kill 130,000 people a year with heart attacks,' " DeNoble told a crowd at Salish Kootenai College on Thursday. "I said, 'You kill 130,000 people a year?' And they said, 'Well, we don't kill them, but the nicotine does.' "

The problem for tobacco companies, DeNoble said, is that if you removed nicotine from cigarettes, no one would smoke. You wouldn't crave the high you get from it.

What the company wanted was for DeNoble to create a drug that would still hook people and keep them addicted, without harming the heart.

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EDITORIAL: RIP cigarettes 

Nationally, about 800 people die every year from cigarette-ignited fires. Six people died in Virginia in 2007 from fires caused by cigarettes. . . .

it seems like a long time until Jan. 1, 2010, when the General Assembly's mandate for "fire-safe" cigarettes takes effect. Virginia has been generous in giving tobacco manufacturers and sellers an 18-month window to comply. Since New York began this movement in 2004, other states have clamped down after just a few months.

Though tobacco manufacturers dragged their heels on changing their product back in the 1980s and 1990s, when similar legislation was under federal consideration, they've adapted with remarkable ease as individual states have instituted the new fire-safety standards.

If the tobacco companies can adapt to make their products less combustible (when for more than two decades they denied the possibility), perhaps they're just as capable of making a less harmful, still economically viable, smoke.

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Imperial Tobacco Canada expands harm reduction program with start of SNUS test market in Ottawa 

Attention News/Health Editors: . . .

As part of its harm reduction program, Imperial Tobacco Canada announces today that Ottawa will be the site of the Company's next test market for its Swedish-style snus smokeless tobacco product. "The health risks associated with smoking tobacco products are well understood, the prices are high and restrictions are strict, yet about five million adults in Canada smoke. Imperial Tobacco Canada believes that it is the right thing to provide people products that are potentially less harmful than smoking," said Benjamin Kemball, president and CEO of Imperial Tobacco Canada.

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• Philip Morris, Part II: There Is No GM Tobacco In Your Marlboros  

In the first half of our conversation, Philip Morris spokesman David Sutton spoke broadly about the company's tobacco research efforts. . . .

That's quite an about face from Philip Morris' precise answers to the GM tobacco question from back in 1998. Then, the company was an unabashed supporter of genetic engineering, at least in the US, where it was perceived public support was stronger. The internal talking points document linked above provides two answers to the same question--Do you use genetically modified tobacco in your cigarettes?--excerpted with emphasis added below.

FOR EU REGION ONLY: At present, PM... does not intentionally use genetically modified tobaccos in its cigarettes and makes reasonable efforts to use only conventional tobaccos in its cigarettes.

FOR NON-EU MARKETS (US AND OTHERS): PM... does not actively seek genetically modified tobaccos for use in its cigarettes. We do not, however, see any reason why such tobaccos should not be used in cigarettes. We seek the highest quality tobaccos available; currently; these may well include genetically modified tobaccos.

What's interesting about the last line of the US answer is that it implies that PM believed that genetically modified tobacco was, as of 1998, in the tobacco supply. Now, though, Sutton says that Philip Morris USA screens their incoming tobacco product to keep GM plants out of their cigarettes.

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Philip Morris, Part I: We Do ($100 Million a Year) of Research For You, Smokers 

Following our series of posts about Philip Morris' tobacco genetic modification program, we heard from the company itself. David Sutton, a company spokesman, didn't provide any details about the company's GM research efforts, but tried to set them into PM's much broader attempt "to reduce the harm of the tobacco products that we make," as he put it. One part of that research has to do with changing the raw materials of cigarettes, but other parts of the production process could potentially yield mildly less carcinogenic products, too.

Towards that end, analysts told the Wall Street Journal last year that they estimated Philip Morris was spending $100 million per year on their so-called harm reduction effort

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• Technology makes smoking safe  

Meet Gamucci; the electronic cigarette. The product purports to look, feel and taste exactly like a regular cigarette does, but comes without the tobacco and tar. It's non flammable, non carcinogenic and doesn't make the air unpleasantly smoky for others, yet still manages to provide the smoker with the nicotine hit they so badly crave. It can also be reused up to 20 times and never produces any ash to drop on the carpet.

The Gamucci cigarette works by utilising micro electronic technology, made from water, propylene glycol, nicotine and tobacco scented flavouring. The cigarette body itself is made up of a cartridge, an atomization chamber, a smart chip controller and built in lithium battery. Nicotine is heated and atomised inside the cartridge, which then produces a vapour which the smoker can inhale. Any smoke that the cigarette gives off is just condensation that evaporates within seconds.

Because the cigarette doesn't put others at risk of second hand smoke inhalation, hardly smells and is non flammable, it's also legal to "smoke" them anywhere, hence solving the problem of smoking bans in pubs and restaurants, not to mention on long flights. For smokers who just can't or won't go without, the Gamucci could end up being a cheap, safe and enjoyable way to smoke without all the disgusting side effects.

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• Cigarette Maker Has Conducted 33 GM Tobacco Tests Since '05  

Two days ago, Philip Morris backed NC-State scientists announced they'd genetically engineered tobacco plants to have reduced levels of some carcinogens. Further investigation by Wired.com revealed that the tobacco giant has applied for 34 field test permits for genetically modified tobacco since May of 2005, according to the USDA field trials database. 33 of the permits were issued.

Over the last three years, the USDA received 117 total applications to test GM tobacco strains, including 19 by North Carolina State University, which received $17.5 million from Philip Morris in December 2002 to map the tobacco genome.

Little can be determined about the types of studies that Philip Morris has run because they've labeled the details of their field permit applications, "Confidential Business Information," sealing them from public scrutiny. . . .

Vector Tobacco, which has developed a low-nicotine variety of the crop, has applied for 14 field permits since 2005, although five were rejected. RJ Reynolds has applied for six, and had one denied.

But the scale of the Philip Morris' genetic engineering program caught even staunch anti-GMO groups off-guard. Bill Freese, of Center for Food Safety, commented, "I'm shocked."

Many groups that fight genetically modified organisms focus on genetically modified food or "pharming," or the practice of synthesizing pharmaceuticals in plants. Tobacco, however, is a natural drug crop and falls between the cracks of most watchdog groups.

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Makers of Electronic Cigarette call it a safe, healthy alternative 

Makers of a new product say it can give smokers satisfaction without the health risk.

The "E-Cig", or Electronic Cigarette, is claimed to be safe because there is no tobacco, tar, or smoke. The pen-sized cigarette is made of plastic and metal and is battery charged. The tiny white cartridges contain water, propylene glycol, nicotine, and a tobacco flavor, and supply enough nicotine for up to two packs of cigarettes.

"There is no second hand smoke, there is no tobacco in this product as far as I know," says Jonathan Winickoff, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital.

7NEWS put the new product to the test by giving smokers a chance to try the E-Cig for a week.

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• Special Report - A Safe Cigarette 

Now a new product says it can give smokers satisfaction without the health risk!

Ron McDonald, Crown 7 Electronic Cigarettes "It gives you the nicotine fix that you need, you know, where you're in somewhere that you can't smoke."

It's called the "E-Cig", or electronic cigarette. It's maker's say it's safe because there's no tobacco, tar, and what you breath in and blow out is not actually smoke.

It's about the size of a pen, and is made of plastic and metal. It's battery charged and these tiny white cartridges supply enough nicotine for up to two packs of cigarettes. . . .

None of our testers say they were able to extinguish their cigarettes completely, but they did say it helped them cut down, substituting the E-Cig for the ones.

Our testers also say liked how they could get a nicotine fix inside public places.

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• Trading smokes for snus may be a safer bet 

researchers say that snus is a safer choice than cigarettes. Replacing smokes with this Swedish export, they claim, reduces the health risks of lighting up.

"In an ideal world, every smoker would just simply quit using tobacco," said Dr. Brad Rodu, a professor of medicine at the University of Louisville who has studied smokeless tobacco for the past 15 years. But that goal is often too hard, he said, and noted just a 5 percent success rate among the 30 million or so American smokers who try to quit each year.

Rodu, whose work was partly funded by unrestricted grants from two smokeless tobacco companies, wants smokers to know their options for "harm reduction" -- beyond high-priced drug store options such as nicotine gum and patches.

So, snus. . . .

But "this is a tobacco product. There is no safe tobacco product," said David Howard, a spokesman for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., maker of the Camel brand snus that has been sold in Sheetz gas stations since July.

Snus critics worry that Sweden's results won't translate to other countries. They point out that Camel markets snus to be used along with cigarettes, not as a replacement, with slogans such as "When you can't smoke, snus."

"There is no suggestion of stopping smoking," Simon Chapman and Becky Freeman of the University of Sydney wrote in a response to their colleagues in Queensland.

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An interview goes up in smoke ($$) 

Picture this: Among the cirque du swag of the BIO 2006 exhibit hall in Chicago, a cheerful young scientist pads up to the booth of a certain magazine of the life sciences. On scanning her nametag, one of my colleagues notices an interesting affiliation: Philip Morris. Intrigued, my colleague asks the senior research scientist about her work, which she says involves "harm reduction."

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Snus sales begin in Ottawa 

Imperial Tobacco Canada, the first tobacco company to launch smokeless Swedish-style snus in Canada, is extending its test market to some 200 outlets in the capital, Ottawa, from 28 January, 2008.

The product, which sells under the leading cigarette brand du Maurier, is already available in around 230 retail outlets in the city of Edmonton, Alberta, following the test market launch in September last year.

Canada is the fifth country where snus is being sold or test marketed in the British American Tobacco Group. Our companies currently sell it in Sweden and Norway, have a test market in South Africa and have run a limited consumer test in Japan.

On the basis of several independent health studies, we believe that, although snus is not harmless, it is substantially less harmful than smoking cigarettes and our snus activities are part of our commitment to product innovations that may help to reduce the impact of tobacco on public health.

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