Tobacco Articles: category reducedrisk

Philip Morris pulls carbon-filtered brand: UltraSmooth cigarettes had been test-marketed in three areas for three years

jblackwell@timesdispatch.com (JOHN REID BLACKWELL TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER ) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Philip Morris USA has ended its three-year test market of a specially filtered cigarette, underscoring the difficulties that cigarette makers face in winning consumers to unconventional smokes. But it likely won't be Philip Morris USA's last attempt to offer smokers a new product, as the company battles for a larger share of an ever-shrinking domestic cigarette market. The Henrico County-based tobacco company said yesterday that it has stopped shipping Marlboro UltraSmooth to stores in Atlanta, Salt Lake City and Tampa, Fla., where the carbon-filtered cigarette has been sold since 2005. . . . Carbon filters have been used on some cigarettes to potentially reduce some of the toxins in smoke, but health experts are skeptical of the benefits to smokers. Philip Morris USA did not claim that Marlboro UltraSmooth was a reduced-risk product, but the company's research has focused on that area for years.

Altria Drops New Filter Cigarettes, In Strategy Setback ($$)

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 04:00:00 GMT

The nation's largest cigarette maker, Altria Group Inc.'s Philip Morris USA, has failed in yet another attempt to sell Americans on a potentially safer cigarette, pulling the plug on Marlboro Ultra Smooth, a version of Marlboro that used a high-technology filter. The product failure highlights the U.S. cigarette giant's challenges in finding a source of growth to offset a worsening decline in U.S. cigarette sales. In the past, Altria could offset revenue decreases in the U.S. business with growth overseas, but Altria recently spun off its Philip Morris International operations. . . . Marlboro Ultra Smooth, which had been sold in Atlanta, Tampa, Fla., and Salt Lake City for more than three years, drew little attention from consumers. Philip Morris USA, which had hoped to market the cigarette as a reduced-risk smoke, stopped making new shipments to its wholesalers April 1. Remaining stock is still on sale. Its other cigarettes with the new activated-carbon filters -- the Marlboro Ultra Lights in Phoenix and North Dakota, and Basic Ultra Lights in Washington state -- also were just discontinued, the company said.

Smokes On a Plane: NJOY Electronic Cigarettes

dtweney@wired.com (Charlie Sorrel) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 04:00:00 GMT

The NJOY is a simulated cigarette which should cut the risk of cancer and even let you smoke on a plane. I can smoke this anywhere. On an airplane, at the CES show, and in gub'mint buildings. In theory, that is. In a world where airplane attendants don't know what your phone's flight mode is, don't expect to be able to puff away without some hassles. In fact, good luck getting a small container of liquid and a heating device onto the plane in the first place.

wouldn't the vapour coming out of his mouth contain nicotine

Fake cigarette is put to the test around Glasgow

Sun, 11 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

IT'S the answer to smokers' prayers - an £89 electronic cigarette that lets them puff in public legally. The SuperSmoker certainly looks like a real fag and its makers claim it also tastes and smokes like the real thing, too. It gives users a hit of nicotine and can be "smoked" anywhere as nothing is actually lit. That means there is no harmful smoke. Nor does it give users a dose of tar. But the fake ciggie - endorsed by Rolling Stones legend Bill Wyman - glows at its tip and produces a puff of steam vapour that disappears without a trace. . . . If you are challenged by the publican, you can show them the accompanying "passport" that proves it is not real smoke. Heather Greenaway asked law student Tierney Gallagher, 20, of Glasgow, to road-test the gizmo out and about in the city. . . . "I did feel really bad, though, when a mother asked me to stop smoking near her child. "It just shows you how strictly the ban is being enforced everywhere. "There was not one shopper who did not look at me in horror."

New way to crush a cigarette : R.J. Reynolds' new Camel Crush includes a menthol capsule, but smoking foes say it lures children

webmaster@inrich.com (RICHARD CRAVER MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE) — Wed, 07 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

A tiny blue capsule is the key element in R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.'s latest attempt to woo smokers. The capsule is embedded into the filter of a regular Camel Lights cigarette. When smokers squeeze and snap the capsule, it releases menthol to change the flavor. The cigarette -- packaged in a sleek black and blue box and called Camel Crush -- is being test-marketed at North Carolina Quality Mart convenience stores, and, beginning this month, in Pennsylvania. "We're giving the adult smoker the ability to savor two distinct flavors with Camel Crush and customize the experience," said Brian Stebbins, the senior business-unit director for Camel. "They can crush it a little and get a slight flavor over the length of the smoke. They can crush it completely and get a fresh menthol blast." . . . the capsule also has become the latest target of anti-smoking groups, which claim that product innovations such as Camel Crush and the marketing of cigarettes are geared toward attracting young consumers. "Tobacco companies have carefully designed their products to attract new users, almost all of whom are children," said The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids in a February report titled "Big Tobacco's Guinea Pigs."

Ruyan America's Electronic Smoking Substitutes Win Two Awards at 2008 Tobacco Plus Expo Held in Las Vegas: Minneapolis Company's E-cigarette Wins Innovative Product of the Year and New Ruyan Vegas E-cigar Wins Most Marketable New Product

billb@ruyanamerica.com (SOURCE Ruyan America, Inc.) — Wed, 07 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Ruyan America, Inc., Minneapolis, announced today that its products won two of the six awards presented at the 2008 Tobacco Plus Expo held at the Las Vegas Convention Center April 24th and 25th. The Company's E-cigarette was named 2008 Most Innovative Product and its Ruyan Vegas E-cigar was named Most Marketable New Product of the Year. Both products are cigarette alternatives/smoking substitutes that allow users to satisfy their cravings for nicotine in places and situations where they otherwise cannot smoke. The Ruyan E-cigarette and the Ruyan Vegas E-cigar use ultrasonic atomization technology to create nicotine infused water vapor that users draw as if it were smoke. Additionally, the products allow users to effectively simulate the physiological and psychological attributes of smoking without creating any harmful second hand smoke. Donald J. Bores, Chairman of Tobacco Outlet Business magazine, one of the Expo's sponsors, stated, "The Ruyan products represent a great opportunity for tobacco retailers to expand their product offerings, provide their customers with convenient smoking alternatives and allow them to choose when and where they are able to satisfy their desire to smoke

Award Winning Smoking Alternatives to Be Featured at 'Cigar Night' at Twin Cities' Nightspot: Neisen's Sports Bar and Grill, Savage, Minn., to Feature Ruyan America Products Thursday, May 22, 2008

billb@ruyanamerica.com (SOURCE Ruyan America, Inc.) — Wed, 07 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Ruyan America, Inc., Minneapolis, announced today that it will be previewing its award-winning and ground-breaking smoking substitutes on Thursday, May 22, 2008, at Neisen's Sports Bar and Grill, 4851 West 123rd Street, Savage, Minn., from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm. The preview will feature the Ruyan Vegas E-cigar, recently awarded the honor as Most Marketable New Product at the 2008 Tobacco Plus Expo held in Las Vegas on April 24th and 25th, 2008. Ruyan will also have its E-cigarette available that night; the Ruyan E-cigarette was given the 2008 Most Innovative Product award at the same Las Vegas Expo. Products will be available for sampling and for sale. The Ruyan Vegas looks and feels like a premium cigar, five and one-half inches in length with a circumference of approximately 50 ring size. The Ruyan Vegas uses a microchip, airflow sensor, ultrasonic atomizer and nicotine-infused cartridges to produce a vapor that provides its user with the experience of smoking, without producing dangerous second hand smoke and without endangering the health of associates or bystanders. The Ruyan Vegas has approximately 1800 mouthfuls of vapor, nearly the equivalent vapor to the mouthfuls of smoke produced in a carton of conventional cigarettes, and is meant to be disposed after it ceases to produce vapor. Smokers who use it to replace all of their smoking activity report it lasts as long as a carton of cigarettes

BAT Science: Research & development at British American Tobacco

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Welcome to Research & Development at British American Tobacco, where you will find an overview of our current research and development programmes, research data and recently published papers and posters. Cigarette smoking is a cause of serious and fatal diseases, so our research and development activities are principally focused on better understanding the mechanisms of harm caused by tobacco use and on developing potentially less harmful products which address this issue. The science of tobacco harm reduction is complex, extremely challenging and spans many scientific disciplines. We have significantly expanded our research capabilities and expenditure over the past few years to reflect the importance we place on work in this area. We welcome your comments on this website and are pleased to discuss our science or possible collaboration with other scientists working in related areas. . . . Harm reduction is a well-established public health concept that seeks pragmatic ways to minimise the health impact of an activity or behaviour which carries inherent risks. An example of harm reduction strategy is the use of seat belts and airbags in cars. However, in the context of tobacco and health policy, few governments currently support the development of reduced risk tobacco products. Most governments simply advocate prevention and cessation.

Tobacco and health: The smoking gun : A machine that puffs away and a Swedish smokeless 'tea bag' are weapons in BAT's quest to create safer products. But can cigarette makers ever succeed? asks Roland Gribben

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT

The tar yield displayed on the cigarette packet has become something of a ''safety'' guideline but, in the complex scientific and political world of research into smoking, the World Health Organisation and the US National Cancer Institute now say the level of risk is unchanged. There has been limited meeting of minds between tobacco and its considerable body of opponents on the basic health and safety issues. Overtures by the industry to set up joint research projects to reduce risks have made little headway. "We are demonised,'' says one- time smoker David O'Reilly, BAT's head of public health and scientific affairs. Universities and their academic researchers shun tobacco money because they feel it is tainted and are uncomfortable about being dragged into awkward ethical issues. Jan de Plessis, BAT's non-smoking chairman, has offered to open doors and laboratories but was told by leaders of anti-smoking pressure groups: "We do not want to sit down with a group responsible for an estimated 750,000 premature deaths each year.'' Governments are only too happy to sit down with the industry because they have it both ways. Tobacco is an important source of tax revenue and an easy target for pointing to an unhealthy lifestyle. . . . The opposition is formidable and the deadly health argument impossible to counter. BAT, the world's second biggest group, is trying harder, combining aggressive defence with changes in behaviour and initiatives. Soul searching about its role in society, business values and the era of corporate and social responsibility has provided fertile ground for navel-gazing and ploughing funds into community projects and research. The upshot is an extensive ''Harm Reduction'' programme encompassing a growing research and development commitment, fieldwork and extended consumer group studies. BAT hopes to attract the scientists into its laboratories via a website - BAT-science.com - to share its research findings with them. . . . Science, says BAT, has still to determine which smokers will get a smoking-related disease and those who will escape. "Nor can science tell whether any individual became ill solely because they smoked,"

SKC: Scientist tells of research on safer cigs

webmaster@missoulian.com (VINCE DEVLIN of the Missoulian) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Twenty-eight years ago, scientist Victor DeNoble was sitting around with a bunch of drunk monkeys when the telephone rang. Executives with Philip Morris, the giant tobacco company, wanted him to come to work for them. DeNoble was studying alcohol addiction at the time - hence, the drunk monkeys, including his favorite, Sarah - but Philip Morris wanted him to apply his knowledge of addiction to nicotine. Specifically, they wanted him to create a man-made chemical to replace the nicotine in cigarettes. The reason? It takes nicotine just seven seconds to go from the lungs to the heart to the brain. . . . "They told me, 'We kill 130,000 people a year with heart attacks,' " DeNoble told a crowd at Salish Kootenai College on Thursday. "I said, 'You kill 130,000 people a year?' And they said, 'Well, we don't kill them, but the nicotine does.' " The problem for tobacco companies, DeNoble said, is that if you removed nicotine from cigarettes, no one would smoke. You wouldn't crave the high you get from it. What the company wanted was for DeNoble to create a drug that would still hook people and keep them addicted, without harming the heart.

Philip Morris, Part II: There Is No GM Tobacco In Your Marlboros

dylan_tweney@wired.com (Alexis Madrigal) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 04:00:00 GMT

In the first half of our conversation, Philip Morris spokesman David Sutton spoke broadly about the company's tobacco research efforts. . . . That's quite an about face from Philip Morris' precise answers to the GM tobacco question from back in 1998. Then, the company was an unabashed supporter of genetic engineering, at least in the US, where it was perceived public support was stronger. The internal talking points document linked above provides two answers to the same question--Do you use genetically modified tobacco in your cigarettes?--excerpted with emphasis added below. FOR EU REGION ONLY: At present, PM... does not intentionally use genetically modified tobaccos in its cigarettes and makes reasonable efforts to use only conventional tobaccos in its cigarettes. FOR NON-EU MARKETS (US AND OTHERS): PM... does not actively seek genetically modified tobaccos for use in its cigarettes. We do not, however, see any reason why such tobaccos should not be used in cigarettes. We seek the highest quality tobaccos available; currently; these may well include genetically modified tobaccos. What's interesting about the last line of the US answer is that it implies that PM believed that genetically modified tobacco was, as of 1998, in the tobacco supply. Now, though, Sutton says that Philip Morris USA screens their incoming tobacco product to keep GM plants out of their cigarettes.

Philip Morris, Part I: We Do ($100 Million a Year) of Research For You, Smokers

dylan_tweney@wired.com (Alexis Madrigal) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Following our series of posts about Philip Morris' tobacco genetic modification program, we heard from the company itself. David Sutton, a company spokesman, didn't provide any details about the company's GM research efforts, but tried to set them into PM's much broader attempt "to reduce the harm of the tobacco products that we make," as he put it. One part of that research has to do with changing the raw materials of cigarettes, but other parts of the production process could potentially yield mildly less carcinogenic products, too. Towards that end, analysts told the Wall Street Journal last year that they estimated Philip Morris was spending $100 million per year on their so-called harm reduction effort

Technology makes smoking safe : Have a suck on this, Little Joe

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Meet Gamucci; the electronic cigarette. The product purports to look, feel and taste exactly like a regular cigarette does, but comes without the tobacco and tar. It's non flammable, non carcinogenic and doesn't make the air unpleasantly smoky for others, yet still manages to provide the smoker with the nicotine hit they so badly crave. It can also be reused up to 20 times and never produces any ash to drop on the carpet. The Gamucci cigarette works by utilising micro electronic technology, made from water, propylene glycol, nicotine and tobacco scented flavouring. The cigarette body itself is made up of a cartridge, an atomization chamber, a smart chip controller and built in lithium battery. Nicotine is heated and atomised inside the cartridge, which then produces a vapour which the smoker can inhale. Any smoke that the cigarette gives off is just condensation that evaporates within seconds. Because the cigarette doesn't put others at risk of second hand smoke inhalation, hardly smells and is non flammable, it's also legal to "smoke" them anywhere, hence solving the problem of smoking bans in pubs and restaurants, not to mention on long flights. For smokers who just can't or won't go without, the Gamucci could end up being a cheap, safe and enjoyable way to smoke without all the disgusting side effects.

Cigarette Maker Has Conducted 33 GM Tobacco Tests Since '05

adam_rogers@wiredmag.com (Alexis Madrigal) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Two days ago, Philip Morris backed NC-State scientists announced they'd genetically engineered tobacco plants to have reduced levels of some carcinogens. Further investigation by Wired.com revealed that the tobacco giant has applied for 34 field test permits for genetically modified tobacco since May of 2005, according to the USDA field trials database. 33 of the permits were issued. Over the last three years, the USDA received 117 total applications to test GM tobacco strains, including 19 by North Carolina State University, which received $17.5 million from Philip Morris in December 2002 to map the tobacco genome. Little can be determined about the types of studies that Philip Morris has run because they've labeled the details of their field permit applications, "Confidential Business Information," sealing them from public scrutiny. . . . Vector Tobacco, which has developed a low-nicotine variety of the crop, has applied for 14 field permits since 2005, although five were rejected. RJ Reynolds has applied for six, and had one denied. But the scale of the Philip Morris' genetic engineering program caught even staunch anti-GMO groups off-guard. Bill Freese, of Center for Food Safety, commented, "I'm shocked." Many groups that fight genetically modified organisms focus on genetically modified food or "pharming," or the practice of synthesizing pharmaceuticals in plants. Tobacco, however, is a natural drug crop and falls between the cracks of most watchdog groups.

Makers of Electronic Cigarette call it a safe, healthy alternative

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Makers of a new product say it can give smokers satisfaction without the health risk. The "E-Cig", or Electronic Cigarette, is claimed to be safe because there is no tobacco, tar, or smoke. The pen-sized cigarette is made of plastic and metal and is battery charged. The tiny white cartridges contain water, propylene glycol, nicotine, and a tobacco flavor, and supply enough nicotine for up to two packs of cigarettes. "There is no second hand smoke, there is no tobacco in this product as far as I know," says Jonathan Winickoff, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital. 7NEWS put the new product to the test by giving smokers a chance to try the E-Cig for a week.