Jump to full article: New Zealand Herald, 2009-06-26
Author: Martin Johnston
Intro: Roll-your-own smokes could be even more harmful than factory-made cigarettes because people suck them harder and more efficiently, Christchurch research indicates.
The researchers are calling for the Government to act on their findings by applying a higher tax and specific warnings on roll-your-own tobacco.
In the first comparison between the two types of smoking using people rather than smoking machines, the study suggests rollies are "apparently no less and possibly more dangerous" than factory-made cigarettes.
Public health specialist Dr Murray Laugesen and his co-researchers found roll-your-own smokers inhaled 28 per cent more smoke per filtered cigarette, even though the rollies contained less tobacco than the factory-mades.
And both types boosted the level of carbon monoxide, measured in exhaled breath, by the same amount.
"Whereas a smoker of factory-mades lets a lot of the smoke go up in the air, these roll-your-own smokers suck like crazy and don't let so much be wasted," Dr Laugesen said yesterday. "They're getting more value out of the tobacco - and more harm."
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