Jump to full article: The Australian (au), 2009-11-04
Author: Adam Cresswell, Health editor
Intro: SMOKERS who switch to low-tar cigarettes have half the chance of successfully quitting the habit.
A study of the smoking history of almost 31,000 US adults found that the odds of smokers managing to leave the habit behind them were 46 per cent lower if they had previously tried to switch to a "lighter" cigarette for any reason.
About 38 per cent of the sample, or 12,000 people, had switched in this way and 43 per cent of those said their reasons had included a wish to quit smoking altogether.
The study, published in the journal Tobacco Control, said although low-tar cigarettes made up about 84 per cent of the US market, the amount of harmful chemicals they delivered into the lungs was comparable to that from regular strength cigarettes. . . .
Simon Chapman, a professor of public health at the University of Sydney and a senior editor with the journal, said the popular belief that "mild" or "light" cigarettes were less harmful than other variants was "a complete myth".
"Smokers adjust the way in which they smoke the cigarette, in order to give them the dose of nicotine that their brain says they want," Professor Chapman said. "The tobacco industry would not put any product on the market that actually contributed towards a cessation of smoking."
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