Tobacco.org

Panel Says Lighter Cigarettes May Be No Safer 

So-called 'light' or low-tar cigarettes may not be any safer than standard tobacco products, and may in fact increase smoking as new users turn to these purportedly 'harm-reduced' alternatives, according to an expert panel.

``We believe that it may be possible to reduce harm from tobacco use with new products, but we frankly do not know the health effects of the various products on the market today that claim to do this,'' explained panel chair Dr. Stuart Bondurant of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

In a statement from the US Institute of Medicine(IOM) at the National Academy of Sciences, which sponsored the report, Bondurant added that since many 'light' products still contain tobacco, ``the effects of these new products must be studied carefully to make a reliable judgment as to whether they actually reduce risk and harm.''

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