Jump to full article: New Scientist, 2009-06-10
Author: Linda Geddes
Intro: TOBACCO companies have begun "clinical trials" to assess whether a range of prototype "safer cigarettes" really do slash levels of toxic chemicals entering the body. At the moment there is no way of regulating any health claims firms might want to make for these cigarettes or restricting whether they bring such products onto the market at all. But this week the US government will decide whether to hand the job over to the Food and Drug Administration.
Allowing the FDA to verify and restrict health claims made by cigarette companies could raise the bar on the quality of scientific evidence behind such claims, leading to greater transparency in tobacco research and cigarette marketing that could ultimately benefit smokers. "What I hope it will do is make it harder for tobacco companies to market products without some evidence that they are likely to reduce the death and disease associated with smoking," says Thomas Eissenberg, a drug dependence researcher at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.
It will be harder for tobacco companies to market products without evidence that they reduce harm
However, anti-smoking campaigners question whether such products should ever find their way to market. "I would be extremely sceptical of any attempt to produce healthy cigarettes," says Deborah Arnott of anti-smoking charity ASH-UK. "The conclusion we have reached is that it's really difficult to do anything to significantly reduce the harm caused by cigarettes." . . .
What everyone does agree on is the need for some kind of regulation. The World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control has been ratified by 164 countries
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