Tobacco.org

Safer cigarettes no such thing, panel finds 

Cigarettes made with modified tobacco or designed to burn at low temperatures do not necessarily deliver on promises to make smoking safer and may even be dangerous, a panel of experts said on Thursday.

And aids meant to help people kick the habit, such as nicotine patches, gum and antidepressants, may have their own side-effects, according to a committee, appointed to advise the government.

They urged the industry, government and independent researchers to do more studies to show whether the products reduce the toxins that smokers take in -- or encourage people to smoke more because it seems less dangerous.

They also recommended legislation that would tighten federal regulation of all tobacco products. . .

Bondurant and colleagues appointed by the Institute of Medicine (IoM), one of the National Academies of Sciences, were asked by the FDA to look at the claims of such products in 1999. They conclude that it is hard to say whether they work.

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