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FILE NAME Kent KNT DATE 1957 Mar DOC KNT153 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Consumer Reports - Nicotine and Tars in Cigarettes CONSUMER reports reportsCONSUMER reports reports MARCH 1957 35 CENTS NICOTINE AND TARS IN LABORATORY TEST REPORT THE CIGARETTE INDUSTRY THE HEALTH HAZARDS POLAROID CAMERAS KNIFE SHARPENERS TIRE GAUGES REAR MIRRORS TWO RECORD CHANGERS EASY SOLDERS TEEN CONSUMERS ROAD TEST REPORTS ON THE HILLMAN MINX THE MERCURY MONTCLAIR The cancer scare ha Have the new filters and new present medical view oj ee CIGARETTES ~ \ \ TAR TESTS FOR NICOTINE AND IN THE SMOKES OF 33 BRANDS CU tested 33 brands of cigarettes for the nicotine and tar content in their smoke The results of these tests when compared with the results of previous tests shed some in- teresting light on the reaction of the tobacco industry to the charges over the past six years that cigarette smoking is a cause of cancer of the lung and of other diseases Have the companies found ways to reduce the nicotine and tar content of the cigarette smoke Have filters and new sizes reduced the hazard A number of interesting facts stand out from a study of the data obtained in this and previous tests K ing cigarettes produce more nicotine and tar in the smoke than the shorter regular cigarettes do if both are smoked to the same butt length As between filters and no filters there's very little to choose so far as nicotine content of the smoke goes While the nicotine content is about the same the average cigarette smoke contains somewhat less tar than unfiltered smoke called low nicotine cigarettes do show low nicotine content as compared with others a third as much on the average as the ordinary brands Unfiltered cigarettes both regular and king are remarkably similar in nicotine and tar levels to their levels of two years ago In contrast the average nicotine and tar levels of filter cigarettes have risen The brand comparison see Table on 101 reveals some facts worthy of special mention page M Among popular regular filter cigarettes Chester- field was lowest in both nicotine and tar levels Among popular king filter cigarettes Tareyton was lowest in nicotine level and about average in tar M 100 MARCH 1957 was lowest in this class in tar level and second only to Tareyton in nicotine "John Alden a cigarette made of tobacco especially bred for low nicotine content had indeed the lowest nicotine level but it was among the highest in tar * Sano made of a denicotinized tobacco was lowest of ali the cigarettes in tar level and higher only than John Alden in nicotine The lowest in both nicotine and tar levels among cigarettes sold with no special claim to low nicotine content was Yorkshire a brand distributed only by Sears- Roebuck retail stores fi Reynolds Tobacco Co. held the dubious but indisputable distinction of supplying more nicotine for the money than any of its competitors Its Winston tastes good like a cigarette should and Cavalier brands edged out its mentholated Salem by an insignificant fraction the fourth Reynolds product Camel exceeded all other regular cigarettes in nicotine level Cavalier was also the tarriest of all cigarettes tested The case history of Kent cigarettes provides a rather illuminating sidelight on the cigarette industry's reaction to the health problem First put on the market in 1952 as P. Lorillard's answer to the raging cancer lung scare the Kent cigarette did a creditable job of filter ing out a high percentage of both nicotine and tar from tobacco smoke But Kent's Micronite filter developed by researchers in atomic energy plants was it would appear a shade too effective Smokers complained that it was hard to draw smoke through the filter and that all they got for their effort was a mouthful of tasteless in warm air CU's 1952 tests showed that the original Kent contained the smoke of one cigarette 1 milli- | brought many changes to the industry sizes affected the nicotine and tar content What is the the effect of smoking on health gram of nicotine and 2 milligrams of tar By 1955 the filter had been easier Kent's loosened up and made nicotine level had about quadrupled and drawing while its tar RESULTS OF TESTS FOR NICOTINE AND TAR listing ' level had increased about fold As of CU's current The listing is in order of increasing nicotine content of the Small : investigation Kent had without fuss or furor abandoned smoke differences in nicotine and tar content are the original Micronite completely and substituted a filter tip of no significance which appears similar to the almost universally used cellu lose filter tip And its nicotine and tar levels had risen so that it had about five times as much nicotine and about BRAND AND TYPE NSCOTINE AVERAGE ------ ------------ -- ------------ --C--IGARETPTEER MILLIGRANS MILLIGRAMS eight times original as 1952 Kent much tar as the JOHN ALDEN Low nicotine tobacco regular 0.7 21 shoppers CU in 18 cities from coast to coast bought Denicotinized filter packs 16 of each brand and as iin n the earliearlier er tests oboughtne SANO Denicotinized king filter 1.0 } cigarette from each pack was mechanically smoked with 105. Since neither with the apparatus shown on page 105. Since neither the true medical significance of tars nor the permissible level LORLORDS DS DeDneinriotriontiziendized YORKSHIRE Regular Regular MURAD Regular regular 1.2 1.2 1.18.8 1.8 InIn 15 15 17 : if any of nicotine in cigarette smoke is known CU does ___ chesterfield Regular not rate the brands but simply presents the results of its Tareyton King hhter 2.1 17 2.3 19 tests M Regular size filter No attempt was made to gauge the effectiveness of L M King filter filters as such nor to measure the quantity of nicotine LUCKY STRIKE Regular and tars in the tobacco of the cigarettes The tests KENT Regular size filter were confined to the smoke because this obviously is the OLD GOLD Regular smoker's only real concern VICEROY King filter Significantly brands which have appeared in all three Mentholated KOOL regular of CU's projects have ranked within type in roughly the nicotine nicotine in MARLBORO filter tip same order of nicotine content in all three As before Long LonLgong filtteirp _ a with nicotine John Alden made with nicotine tobacco produced the PHILIP MORRIs Regular Regular TAREYTON King . least nicotine of any brand in the latest tests Next in HERBERT : line this time came denicotinized Sano also low in the HIT PARADE King filter 2.6 15 2.6 15 2.6 19 a 16 . 18 2.8 18 2.8 20 2.9 18 2.9 2.9 18 24 99 20 3.03.0 20 earlier projects earlier projects and Lords included time included for the first time King CHESTERFIELD King size 3.0 3.0 17-1 = both made with tobacco from which a large part of the PALL MALL King 3.0 24 nicotine had been extracted by processing KOOL Mentholated king filter 3.1 16 filter & regulars took the biggest jump in nicotine from 1955 to 1957. Of the ten filter brands covered in both SPUD Mentholated long filter _ King tip 3.1 17 3.1 1955 1957 six Parliament 1955 and 1957 led by Parliament and Old Gold were somewhat higher in tar content in the latest tests In contrast to the variety of filter absorbent cotton paper with activated carbon cellulose fiber OLD GOLD King filter philip philip morris Long Long King REGENT King filter FATIMA King 3.1 19 3.1 21 3.1 21 3.1 3.1 224 4 creped and uncreped paper asbestos fiber and combina- CAMEL Regular 3.2 17 tions of these turned up in the 1955 tests most of OLD GOLD King 3.2 19 the filters encountered this time were made of a cellulose PARLIAMENT Long filter 3.4 20 derivative Regardless of their effectiveness as filters all SALEM Mentholated king filter 3.7 19 appeared to offer two advantages they help to keep bits of King 3.7 23 advantages they provide tobacco out of the smoker's mouth and they provide a RALEIGH King 3.7 23 firmer butt for his lips to grip King tip WINSTON King filter 3.8 3.8 22 22 Continued Continued on next page cavalier King 3.8 26 CONSUMER REPORTS 101 continued Although the king brands on the average had more nicotine and tars in their smoke than the regular cigarettes did these results should be viewed in the light of the fact that all samples regardless of size were smoked to the same butt length approximately one inch Consequently more tobacco was burned in smoking the king size cigarettes Whether or not fine tobacco filters best as the Pall Mall ads claim it is a fact that if you leave a proportionately longer butt when you smoke a king cigarette in other words smoke the same length of tobacco as you would with a regular cigarette the extra tobacco left in the butt will act as a filter and reduce both the nicotine content and tar content of the smoke NICOTINE AND TAR LEVELS AVERAGE NICOTINE IN SMOKE OF ONE CIGARETTE MILLIGRAMS BY CIGARETTE TYPE AVERAGE TAR IN SMOKE OF ONE CIGARETTE MILLIGRAMS 1957 1955 1953 1957 1955 1953 REGULAR SIZE NO FILTER 2.5 REGULAR SIZE WITH FILTER 2,7 KING SIZE NO FILTER 3.2 KING SIZE WITH FILTER 3.1 SPECIAL LOW NICOTINE 1.0 2.6 1.9 3.3 2.7 0.7 2.0 2.1 2.5 + 0.8 18 16 22 18 16 18 12 23 16 14 17 14 18 ** 13 1953 figures * Different methods were used far tar extraction in the 1953 tests than in the The have been increased by 20 in un 1955 and current tests ** This type of cigarette was not the attempt to make them directly comparable among popular brands on the market at the time of the test THE INDUSTRY NEW BRANDS AND NEW TYPES HIT THE GROWING MARKET In a recent issue of a tobacco trade publication the editors speaking of the research that has indicated a relationship between cigarettes and lung cancer tossed off this seem- ingly lighthearted comment The only certainty that has emerged is that mice shouldn't smoke The editors flippancy may have been inspired by the apparently complete recovery of the cigarette industry from the staggering punches medical investigators landed on it a few years ago Last year according to authoritative estimates cans broke all records by spending nearly five dollars for 395 billion cigarettes This was 170 Ameribillion million more dollars and 13 billion more cigarettes than in 1955 and 570 million more dollars and about a billion more cigarettes than in the previous record year 1952. the year before the full impact of cigarette publicity hit the cigarette business Obviously 1956 was a banner year for most big cigarette companies and their stockholders So it is not surprising that industry spokesmen now appear to be taking the health problem considerably less seriously than they did a year or two back In those days president Edward A. Darr of R. J. Reynolds Camel Winston Cavalier Salem accused the American Cancer Society of trying to destroy the tobacco industry Last December in Printers Ink an 102 MARCH 1957 advertising trade magazine business consultant Harry M. Wootten wrote that the smoking con- troversy . . . may be collapsing for lack of nourishment Even the Department of Agriculture concedes that many people who had reduced their smoking or cut it out entirely in 1953 and 1954 probably have resumed or increased their consumption mainly using filter cigarettes At least a million and a half of this country's 38 million smokers 54 of all men and 24 of all women over 18 gave up the habit between the fall of 1953 and early 1955 a Census Bureau survey for the National Cancer Institute published indicates How many more simply cut down the findings do not reveal but it must have been a sizable number because in 1953. after 21 years of uninterrupted growth cigarette sales dropped by 7.3 billion cigarettes The slide continued through the next year to bring the total drop for the year period to 25.4 billion cigarettes Sales turned upward again in 1955. however That year's total although still well below 1952's bettered the 1954 mark by some 13 billion cigarettes Then came 1956 anjdoy was complete again in the hearts of the men who know tobacco profits best Last year's cigarette sales and profits records and 1955's partial recovery were largely the result of the soaring popularity of filter cigarettes and the upsurge of this minor cigarette breed has wrought some fairly startling changes in the cigarette business The major ones are a spate of new brands new versions of old brands new packages in the face of a traditional virtually industry reluctance to make any change in the prod ucts for fear of spoiling a good thing an upheaval in the tobacco market resulting from the fact that filter cigarettes not only require less tobacco than nonfilters but are being made with grade leaf and in some cases with parts of the tobacco plant that used to be thrown away the highest profits in years thecause most filter cigarettes cost less to make than filter cigarettes but have sold at premium prices and finally a marked weakening of the honored sales dominance of three or four top brands Filter cigarettes are far from being a new product Handmade ones were on sale in Europe at least as far back as 1900 and such brands as Obak and Imperiale turned up in the United States a few years later Benson & Hedges Parliament introduced in 1931. and Brown & Williamson's Viceroy which appeared five years later were the first major domestic brands but they made no dent worth mentioning in the American market As a matter of fact a mass market was the last thing their manufacturers had in mind at the time the advertising pitch was aimed at snobs only In 1952. P. Lorillard Co. trumpeted its new filter Kents onto the stage with page newspaper ads describing the virtues of the Micronite filter developed by researchers in energy plants Since 1952 sales of filter cigarettes have shot up from 5.2 billion a year to a 1956 record of over 119 bil lion from a relatively insignificant 1.4 of total cigarette sales to nearly 30 Not only were they the only cigarette type to sell better in 1956 than in 1955 their gain amounted to nearly 60 In achieving it they passed the king group for the first time and captured second place among the three major cigarette types By the end of this year they are expected to have 40 of the market The chief loser in the shifting cigarette market has been the erstwhile mainstay of the business the regular nonfilter cigarette As smokers turned to filters sales of regulars have fallen from 319 billion cigarettes in 1952 to 182 billion in 1956. a drop of nearly 43 Reg ulars still hold the top spot but in contrast to 1952. when they were in command of fifths of the entire cigarette market their share last year was under 46 Kings have slipped too but their decline last year was only about 607 compared with the regulars 10 Within the general pattern of a rising filter market and a shrinking market for regulars and kings individual brands have been having their ups and downs Camel the selling brand since 1950. is still on top despite a sales drop of 34 since 1952. Pall Mall top seller among kings and ranking among all hrands was the only king to buck the filter tide successfully last year Hardest hit by the filter competition were Chesterfield and Old Gold regulars both down about 20 in 1956 sales from 1955 Winston's 1956 sales of 34 billion not only made it the top filter for the second straight year but lifted it to fourth place among all hrands well ahead of such oldtimers as regular Chesterfield Philip Morris and Old Gold Ficeroy the filter leader until 1954. came in second again with M hot on its heels and coming up fast Marlboro's 1956 gain 120 ) was the biggest of all and by the end of the year it had shot past seven older brands to become the ranking filter New brands appear Not since the emergence of pack cigarettes during the Great Depression has there been such a rash of new brands and changes in old brands as the last few years have seen As a result the industry's take is being split more ways and three or four brands no longer dominate sales as they once did While the four leading brands of six years ago for example accounted for 80 of total cigarette sales last year's top four did only 57 of the overall business Every one of the industry's giants sent a new entry into the filter race last including American Tobacco the last of the Big Three the other two being R. J. Reynolds and Liggett & Myers to bring out a powered con tender Perhaps because its Pall Malls and its Luckies had held their combined sales volume against the filters American didn't get around to launching its king filter Hit Parade until last October Hit Parade was not expected to achieve national distribution until early this year but even without this it had scored sales of 4:3% billion by the end of 1956 Ze - The nation got its first mentholated filter brand when Reynolds trotted out Salem last May A few weeks later Philip Morris reintroduced Spud a mentholated brand Tobac had acquired in the liquidation of the Fisher Tobac co Co. some years back as a filter mentholated king cigarette Then in August a new mentholated Brown & Williamson Kool hit the market replacing nonfilter king Kool called brand splitting fusing the same brand name Continued on next page * Se. 2 continued for two or more cigarette types has grown apace Liggett & Myers was the first of the brand splitters with king Chesterfield in 19521. Later P. Lorillard took the process a step further splitting Old Gold three ways regular king and filter and last year both Philip Morris and Liggett & Myers went three too regular long and king Other recent cigarette debuts included the advent of the long -size cigarettes Marlboro Philip Morris Parliament M Regent Spud 80 mm in length as compared with mm regulars and mm kings and Philip Morris introduction of formerly premium filter Parliament in a top box to sell for only le to above popular filter prices Although the tobacco crop least fifths of which goes into the making of cigarettes near the bottom of the list of United States crops in acreage 1.366.600 in 1956 it stands near the top in cash value In 1955. it brought its about % Tobacco as far west growers about one and a quarter billion dollars of total U. farm income for that vearl is grown from New Hampshire to Florida and as Minnesota but as a result of differences in soil climate and plant varieties nearly every region produces a different kind and quality of leaf Some cigarette tobaccos are cured others are dried or cured curing in which the leaves dry quickly in a heated barn results in a light brown almost yellow leaf while cured leaves dried in the smoke of wood fires are very dark Maryland tobacco and Kentucky and Tennessee burley usually are dried in unheated barns For many years cured tobacco which comes mainly from North Carolina was used straight in American cigarettes but now nearly all the leading brands are made with blended tobaccos The mixture varies but popular nonfilter cigarettes are said to contain 45 to 75 cured leaf 15 to 457 burley 5 to 13 Turkish and % more or less Maryland Other ingredients include a humectant or moistener and one or more of such Bavoring materials as rum wine brandy honey oil of cloves oil of cinnamon oil of peppermint and licorice What kinds of tobacco are going into filter cigarettes these days seems to be largely each company's secret Manufacturers are reported to be switching from light- TOTAL CIGARETTE SALES 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 colored bodied cured ichacen to darker heavier bodied leaf in an effort to compensate for a loss of flavor that occurs as the smoke passes through a filter In mak ing this switch they are turning the tobacco market upside down The price of grade darker leaves which used to be much lower than that of cured leaf is climbing rapidly while grade cured tobacco is bringing bids below government support prices going begging at that At the end of last year the supply of cured leaf on hand had mounted to a record 3.5 billion pounds enough to last almost three years at the old rate of consumption As a result the government which in connection with the support program exercises strict control over tobacco acreage has ordered a 20 cut in cured growing for 1957 Growers not happy For the growers the tremendous switch as Business Week magazine calls it is only one of three setbacks they have suffered at the hands of the cigarette and cigar makers during the last few years In the first place the growers are somewhat less enthusiastic than the manufacturers about the cigarette boom for the simple reason that filter cigarettes take less tobacco than plain ones 177 to 20 less Not only that but some manufacturers have taken to buying and using parts of tobacco plants that used to be thrown away stems broken and inferior leaves and frag ments These are ground into small particles mixed with a binder to form a paste rolled out into a sheet dried shredded and then blended with higher tobaccos and made into cigarettes The use of such homogenized for reconstituted or synthetic or processed as it is variously called tobacco could cut tobacco costs by up to 50 according to some estimates The companies are said to be ready after eight to ten years of experimenting to begin using the homogenized product in a big way When a Senate agriculture subcommittee tried to look into the matter last May it found the manufac- turers pretty mouthed The reason for this reticence Business Week guessed were the companies uncertainty about the public's reaction and fear on the part of manufac- turers who are using or planning to use homogenized leaf that the competition might begin boasting of its 100 grade tobaccos However a spokesman for R. J. Reynolds which is said to have been using homogenized tobacco for several years insists that its made leaf being a controlled blend is milder and more flavorful than natural leaf CIGARETTES CIGARETTES 394 387 382 395 CIGARETTE SALES BY TYPE > REGULAR KING SIZE FILTER 80.3 18.3 1.4 69.8 26.9 3.3 61.8 28.1 10.1 53.2 27.2 19.6 45.8 24.3 29.9 Figures are from Printers Ink magazine Even though homogenized tobacco does not appear to have come into general use vet filter cigarettes are proving considerably more profitable than plain ones Value Line In- vestment Survey credits them with an important role in the % rise in the tobacco companies net income last year The reason is clear quarters of the cost of making a cigarette goes for the tobacco according to Forbes a business magazine hence filter cigarettes which take less tobacco and can be made with grade leaf can mean an appreciable saving to the manufacturer At the same time the filters have been selling for up to more 104 MARCH 1957 HOW CU TESTED CIGARETTES Two cigarettes at a time were fitted into glass holders and then smoked by the laboratory apparatus a Raising and lowering the leveling bottle at the right raises and lowers the level of the water in the vertical glass tubes thelow technician's hands at the end of the train When the water level in the tubes falls air is drawn through the cigarettes The smoke is collected in acidified alcohol in the flasks left any smoke that escapes the flasks is trapped in the vials between the flasks and the end of the train The apparatus took one puff a minute each puff lasting for two seconds and containing about two cubic inches 35 cubic centimeters of smoke The cigarettes were smoked down to a butt of just under an inch 23 mm Sixteen sam ples of each brand were smoked in two runs of eight cigarettes each and the results of each run were determined separately and averaged After each run the washings from the vials were added to the smoke solution in the collecting flasks One por tion of the solution was distilled to isolate the nicotine which was measured with an violet spectrophotometer B Chloroform and water were added to another portion of the smoke solution C and then the tars were separated out in a series of steps and weighed on a chemical balance D per pack than the nonfilters Small wonder then that as Mr. Wootten has said filter cigarettes once reasonable unit volume is attained are in most instances the most profitable end of the tobacco business Cigarettes probably are sold in more places more kinds of places any other manufactured product cigar stores and stands drug stores grocery stores restaurants bars liquor stores newsstands and just about any other place where they can pay in cash or good will for the space and trouble they take However such traditional retailers as tobacco shops cigar stores and drug stores are gradually yielding ground to supermarkets which now have become the principal outlets service merchandising via supermarket and vending machine is supplanting counter sales The latest available statistics released in 1952 by the National Association of Tobacco Distributors show food stores making 32 of total sales followed by vending machines with % drug stores with 13 and cigar stores and stands with 12 Along with the shift of business to supermarkets has gone a shift on the consumer's part from buying packs to Continued on next page . CONSUMER REPORTS 105 continued buying cartons At least half of all cigarette sales today are said to be by the carton Fifty per cent of the 490,000 vending machines in opera tion in 1955 according to a Redbook magazine report were run by wholesale tobacco distributors The same source quotes trade informants as saying that the big cigarette companies pay annual subsidies of $ to 12.50 per column per machine to have their brands stocked The recent outpouring of new cigarette brands and types has created more than its share of stocking inventorying and pricing problems for the retailer Some supermarkets report Printer's Ink are refusing to carry any but the selling regular king filters of any brand and a brand survival battle with weak entries forced out is predicted Operators of vending machines most of which have only ten columns now are confronted with the fact that it takes at least 20 columns to offer even minimum coverage of the current cigarette crop Price differences among the many cigarette types the market today are another headache because vending machins can handle money in only two or three denominations Until January 1955. when Philip Morris brought out Marlboro in a top box cigarette packaging had remained practically unchanged since Camel appeared in the first cup pack in 1913. The only intervening packaging developments worth noting were the addition of the cellophane wrapper to the cup pack the zipper pull tabs mid the white Luckies package of World War II Lucky Strike green has gone to war and Philip Morris 1954 open pack with an extra tab that opened the package itself along with the cellophane wrapper Many observers credit the Marlboro box with a sizable share in the brand's rapid sales growth Philip Morris which now boxes Philip Morris Parlia- ment and Spud as well as Marlboro imported its flipmaking machines from England at 30.000 each and had exclusive American rights to them through last summer Since then Liggett & Myers has bought some machines and adopted the box as an alternative package for & filters Pick the pack that suits you best . Other companies are reported to be experimenting with packaging In the past 20 years the retail price of a pack of majorbrand cigarettes has risen from an average of about 13 two for 25c to about 25c Tax cigarettes are one of the most heavily taxed of all products ac- counted for part of this increase The Federal excise tax now amounts to Be a pack while the average of the taxes imposed by 42 states and the District of Columbia is 3c On top of these there is a local tax of a penny or so in many areas For the fiscal year that ended last June Federal and state taxes alone were expected to total about 2.1 billion dollars Movement in unison As they always have the retail prices of popular cigarette brands continue to move up or down virtually in despite a 1946 Supreme Court trust case decision convicting the three largest companies American Tobacco R. J. Reynolds and Liggett & Myers of collu- sion to prevent retail price competition The companies accomplished their end the court found by keeping their own price the same and by putting pressure on dealers to prevent any but a few recognized cheap brands from being sold for less At the same time the companies were judged guilty of manipulating the tobacco market to hold down the prices paid to growers According to testimony in the case which was begun in 1940. the Big Three dealt ruthlessly with the manufacturers of the 10 brands Wings Avalons Marvels etc.^ that burst on the scene during the Depression When these upstarts captured 22 of the market for a brief period in 1932. the big companies went into action dropping their own prices and buying up the kind of tobacco used in the 10 brands To date the only apparent price competition in the cigarette business is at the retail level generally between small dealers and supermarkets and drug chains It is a popular notion that most of the price of a pack of cigarettes goes to pay for the advertising Actually TOBACCO COMPANIEs and their offsprING AMERICAN REYNOLDS & MEYERS PHILIP MORRIS LORILLARD REGULAR SIZE Lucky Strike REGULAR SIZE - WITH FILTER Tareyton FILTER | ) Pall Mall KING SIZE WITH FILTER Hit Parade Parade Tareyton MENTHOLATED Camel , --- Cavalier Cavalier Winston Winston Salem Chesterfield M | Chesterfield } Chestrfield Fatima M M _ Morris Philip Morris - Philip Morris | Marlboro Parliament Spud } Old Gold Murad Kent Old Gold Old Gold - 106 MARCH 1957 BROWN & WILLIAMSON ~ _ Raleigh Viceroy Viceroy Kool la =e ; fad Mined 0 BOE figures published several years ago indicate that the manu- A References to the presence or absence of any physical Ns facturers of the major brands spend only about a fourth effects of smoking in general or in any brand in particular aeot as much for their advertising as they do for their tobacco Unproved or insignificant claims concerning nicotine et that advertising accounts for a little over 14 of their total content O50 cost of doing business Even so six cigarette companies P82 made a list of the 100 leading advertisers of 1955 pub " References to the effects of cigarette smoking on the nose lished in the trade weekly Advertising Age last December throat nerves or other parts of the body or on energy Through the years and into the present the three main asen ad themes of cigarette advertising have been pleasure health AimiaaG and snob appeal sometimes used separately sometimes in Claims of medical approval of cigarette smoking in general or any brand in particular ' Comparisons of the sales volume of competing brands omarion combination In the 40s and early 50s the emphasis was without substantiating data on health Just what the doctor ordered Guard against * Unprovable claims to the use of particular types or Ta throat scratch Safe for your zone More doctors qualities of tobacco smoke Camels than any other cigarette etc. Most of the industry's run with the Federal Trade Testimonials that are not genuine and the current opin- ion of the testifier Commission in the past 15 years or so were brought on by health claims For example in 1942. Old Gold ads False or misleading disparagement of other cigarette claimed that impartial tests reported in the Reader's Digest companies and their products had shown that Old Gold had less nicotine than any other As Business Week observed the guide if it were en- cigarette tested The FTC objected to this claim pointing out that the actual difference in average nicotine content per cigarette between Old Gold and the other two brands tested was 177.187 ounce forceable would eliminate nearly every selling point that the tobacco companies have used in the past generation But 1954 brought a new look in cigarette advertis ing Business Week summed it up this way The FTC At other times the FTC has ordered an end to claims couldn't do it The tobacco growers couldn't do it Warn- all of which it found to be untrue that Camels will never ings from marketing experts went unheeded But eco- harm or irritate the throat that Philip Morris protects nomics did the trick Faced with dropping sales cigarette against smoker's cough and that among independent manufacturers have pulled an abrupt about in ad- tobacco experts it's Luckies two to one vertising tactics .. .. Today there is no word of fear In September 1955. the FTC released an point no talk of throat scratch comfortable reassuring guide for its staff's use in judging cigarette advertising phrases about how good a cigarette tastes Smoking it According to the guide the following claims are improper seems is no longer a health cure it's pure pleasure MEDICAL ASPECTS THE CANCER LINKAGE IS STILL NOT CLEAR Although smoking has been a human activity for hundreds of years it is only in the last decade or so that it has become current research efforts should provide useful information in this neglected field Physical factors associated with the subject of intensive scientific study Occasional reports smoking a hot pipe stem in the mouth or holding of the effects of smoking on bath body and mind have ap- hot smoke in the mouth and the respiratory tract peared since the middle of the last century when a famous have irritating properties independent of the chemical com- Irish physician Dr. Robert J. Graves found heart disturb position of the smoke itself ances in heavy smokers However most of the studies on living subjects were made without adequate statistical con- Smoke is absorbed trols diagnostic precision or the benefits of chemical and Because many of the chemicals in tobacco smoke are pharmacological analysis Often the emotional attitude of absorbed from the mouth and respiratory tract into the | the observer toward smoking would result in either exag- blood stream smoking probably affects all the organs and geration or underestimation of the effects of tobacco The tissues of the body The most important known effects are Y development of improved medical biological and statistical on the gastrointestinal tract the heart and blood vessels techniques in recent decades has made possible more re- the respiratory tract and the nervous system People vary a liable studies of the properties and effects of tobacco great deal however in their reaction to tobacco For one smoke person 15 cigarettes a day constitutes heavy smoking for According to present knowledge tobacco smoke contains another heavy smoking means 40 cigarettes a day British tars nicotine carbon monoxide arsenic and a miscellane- investigators usually term more than 25 cigarettes a day as A ous group of acids phenols aldehydes and other chemicals heavy smoking In American research the term heavy The relative amounts of these chemicals vary in different smoking means from 20 to 40 or more cigarettes daily tobacco leaves The ingredients which are introduced by Notwithstanding the testimonials of movie stars and fa- the burning of the cigarette paper are not fully known but Continued on next page CONSUMER REPORTS 107 continued mious sports personalities regarding the mildness or nonirritating properties of the cigarettes they are paid to advertise tobacco smoke does irritate the mucous membrane Dentists are familiar with the stains and tar deposits on the teeth and gums of habitual smokers and some believe that heavy smoking aggravates guni diseases Leukoplakias cancerous localized surface thickenings of the tongue cheek and other parts of the mouth seen predominantly in heavy smokers and they usually disappear if smoking is discontinued Birdcage mouth the flat morning taste well known to heavy smokers is in part due to the local irritative effects of tobacco smoke The producing action of nicotine is well known to almost everyone who remembers his first altempt at smoking Fine discrimination in taste sensation and smell are known to be impaired by smoking and gourmets make a point of never smoking before dining and wining Even in some habitual smokers hunger contractions of the stomach are suppressed by smoking and it is a common complaint that there is a great increase in appetite after the smoking habit is broken While smoking does not of itself cause stomach or du- odenal ulcers most doctors prohibit smoking in the pres ence of active ulcer symptoms The apparent effect of the breakfast cigarette in promoting a bowel movement is believed to be due to the stimulating action of nicotine on the autonomic ganglia supplying the colon Because of this effect persons with diarrhea or with acute or chronic colitis are sometimes advised to avoid tobacco The effect of smoking on the heart and blood vessels was perhaps the first aspect to engage the attention of physicians Smoking accelerates the heart rate raises the blood pressure increases the work of the heart and constricts the blood vessels of the extremities The degree to which such changes occur varies a great deal in different persons Persons sensitive to tobacco often complain of extrasystoles or other irregularities in the heart beat Nicotine tolerance Although the habitual smoker acquires a certain tolerance to nicotine and can absorb amounts of the drug that would kill a smoker he never gets over the vascular effects of smoking Elevation of the blood pressure and the heart rate and constriction of the peripheral arteries does occur after one or two cigarettes even in the heaviest smokers The studies of Dr. Grace Roth of the Mayo Clinic among others have made it evident that nicotine is the agent chiefly responsible for the vascular changes induced by smoking About 2milligrams of nicotine are con tained in the puffed smoke of an average regular cigarette somewhat more in the smoke of a king cig arette About 90 of nicotine in inhaled smoke is ab- sorbed compared to about 25 to 60 absorption when the smoke is simply drawn into the mouth and then expelled as is usual in pipe and cigar smoking Some investigators believe that the vascular disturbances occurring after smoking are little influenced by the nicotine content of the tobacco or the extent of inhalation of the smoke others consider that individuals sensitive to the nicotine effects of ordinary cigarettes may be able to tal- erate a low nicotine toharco such as John Aident or a denicotinized tobacco such as Sano with fewer harmful vascular effects Appreciable amounts of carbon monoxide are present in tobacco smoke and in the heavy smoker as much as 567 or more of the circulating hemoglobin may be converted to carboxyhemoglobin Whether this concentration of car bon monoxide in the blood impairs physical and mental efficiency under ordinary circumstances is not known but it has been speculated that heavy smoking may be a con- tributing factor in impairing judgment and nervous reflexes in auto driving and other activities requiring physical and mental alertness At high altitudes where there is a tendency to oxygen deficiency a concentration of % carbon monoxide in the blood may have serious effects Smoking and the heart Smoking tends to cause a significant rise in blood pres sure in persons with a tendency to hypertension and some doctors caution against smoking for those who have severe high blood pressure or hypertensive heart disease Other doctors believe that the tranquilizing effects of moderate smoking on the nervous system offset the blood pressure elevating effects In the course of their studies on the association between heavy cigarette smoking and lung cancer Drs Hammond and Horn of the American Cancer Society reported that among 187.000 men aged 50 to 69. the heavy smokers had a death rate from coronary artery disease thardening of the coronary arteries coronary sclerosis or thrombosis twice as high as men who had never smoked Even light cigarette smokers were somewhat affected according to the report though cigar and pipe smoking seemed to have little or no influence on death rates The thesis that heavy cigarette smoking imposes a serious burden on the coronary artery circulation and on the heart is not accepted by most physicians however An alternative explanation may be that nervous or psychological factors which dispose a person to indulge in heavy smoking also dispose to coronary artery disease A scientific committee of the American Heart Association appointed to appraise all available scientific evidence relating to smoking and heart disease concluded March 14. 1956 1. There is evidence supported by clinical observations in a large number of cases that tobacco smoking is harmful in certain dis eases of the peripheral blood vessels of the arms and legs This harmful effect was demonstrated most clearly in the condition known as thromboangiitis obliterans Buerger's disease It is known that this disease will usually become stationary or even improve if the patient stops smoking 2. It is recognized that a small percentage of persons with known disease of the coronary arteries will develop symptoms and will display signs detectable by laboratory tests when they smoke Such people may be harmed by smoking 3. The committee believes that the available evidence is not suf ficient to define the effect of tobacco smoking upon the coronary arteries or upon the heart itself except in the small group men- tioned above who already have coronary artery disease It is believed that if smoking plays any part in the causation of hear disease it is only one of many factors 108 MARCH 1957 oe cen ete we setae It is the belief of the cuminitter that much greater knowledge knowledge ineeded before any conclusion can be drawn concerning relation bet , skip between smoking and increased death rates from curonary heart disease STP News on cancer and tars SEISty As we go to press investigators at the Radium feta It has been suggested that some of the vascular and other Institute of the University of Paris the dis effects of tobacco are the result of allergy to some com- report covery of a chemical in cigarette 3-4-9.10 ponent of tobacco Many persons with abnormal responses dibenzpyrene invariably causes to tobacco show a positive reaction when tobacco extracts cancer when injected into mice Although it has long are injected into the skin More studies are required how been known that benzpyrene chemicals are ever to determine the significance of allergy in relation to of the effects of capa- bie of inducing cancer in mice the amounts pres- some smoking ent in tobacco tars have not been found sufficient Tobacco amblyopia is a relatively rare but serious eve to produce cancer consistently in a high percentage disorder associated with smoking There is a gradual or of experimental animals The sudden decrease of visual newspaper report acuity especially for colored ob loes not indicate the relationship between the jects If the connection with smoking is not realized the amount of dibenzpyrene which caused cancer in condition may progress to optic nerve atrophy and per- the mice and the amount of the chemical present manent injury to vision in cigarette smoke While nicotine is chiefly responsible for tobacco's effects on the heart and blood vessels the elements chiefly responsible for the effects on the respiratory tract nose throat bronchi and lungs the tars and possibly arsenic and other combustion products The respiratory effects are of Without a great deal more information than is yet available it is impossible to know whether the Paris studies make a significant contribution to previous knowledge based on animal experiments two irritating and carcinogenic inciting ) Irritating effects The irritating effects of tobacco smoke on the respiratory tract seem indisputable Many otolaryngologists believe that chronic inflammation of the larynx and warty growths on the vocal cords can be caused by heavy smoking Many studies indicate that heavy smoking can result in chronic bronchitis called cigarette cough is believed to be caused by the chronic irritation of the nose throat larynx trachea and bronchi Although tobacco smoke has not been demonstrated to cause bronchial asthma in most cases asthma is made worse by inhalation of tobacco smoke Recent studies indicate final proof is still lackthat inhaled tobacco smoke may reach far down into the smaller air passages of the lung causing spasm of the muscles surrounding the passages as well as inflamma- tion of the mucous membranes This may lead to partial or intermittent obstruction of air from the alveoli of the lungs and eventually to pulmonary emphysema disease of the lungs marked by breathlessness and almost always always associated with coughing The lungs become inflated the tissues are stretched the elastic recoil of the lung is reduced and the diaphragm becomes low and fixed The disease which usually begins after the age of 40. tends to progress and to lead eventually to severe respiratory and even circulatory failure Since pulmonary emphysema is much more common than lung cancer if the relation be- tween heavy smoking and pulmonary emphysema is confirmed its public health importance may be even greater than the relation between smoking and cancer of the lung So far as public interest goes the most important question is the extent to which smoking is responsible for the progressive rise in cancer of the lung in recent decades Last year about 24,000 men and 4000 women died of can- cer of the about eight times as many as 20 years ago Mortality from no other type of cancer is increasing at a comparable rate There is no dispute among medical authorities that many materials in the air we breathe have inducing effects and probably play an important part in the rising incidence of cancer of the lung There is dispute however as to the comparative importance of air pollutants as against heavy smoking as a causative factor in cancer of the lung Heavy cigarette smoking is believed by many investigators by the American Cancer Society be an important or even the major factor contributing to the development of lung cancer A different opinion is held by Dr. Clarence C. Little Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Tobacco Industry Research Committee Any possible role of smoking in the etiology cause of lung cancer says Dr. Little remains an unresolved question It cannot be said that smoking has been absolved from suspicion neither have the charges . . been proven The point of view of the American Cancer Society de- rived from several types of statistical studies on thousands of men and women with and without lung cancer is summarized in a recent 19561 pamphlet Where We Stand Today on Cigarettes and Lung Cancer published by the American Cancer Society Accordintog this pamphlet lung cancer is about 27 times as frequent among those who smoke two packages of cigarettes a day as among those who have never smoked However not everyone who smokes heavily develops lung cancer The man who for many years has smoked heavily two packages or so a day has about one chance in ten of developing lung cancer eventually A man who smokes less than a pack a day has about one chance in 36 of developing the disease The chances of a smoker developing lung cancer are about one in 270 Two important scale studies on population groups in the United States and England one by the American Cancer Society and the other by the British Medical Re- search Council though not yet fully completed appear to support the conclusion that heavy cigarette smoking is one Continued on next page CONSUMER REPORTS 109 continued of the most important causes of cancer of the lung In both studies lung cancer seems to occur less frequently in those who have given up cigarettes than in those who have smoked them continuously though moderately The British report considers significant a study of the smoking habits of doctors living in rural and urban districts The high and closely similar incidence of cancer of the lung in the two groups of smokers could not according to this study have been affected by varying exposure to such atmospheric pollutants as industrial wastes and automobile exhausts Environmental factors A different point of view about the relationship between environmental air carcinogens and cancer of the lung is contained in a recent Public Health Monograph by Dr. W. C. Hueper head of the Environmental Cancer Section of the National Cancer Institute U. S. Public Health Service According to Dr. Hueper any final conclusion about the relative importance of cigarette smoking as a cause of lung cancer should he kept in abeyance until more valid and conclusive evidence becomes available Dr. Hueper believes that tobacco smoking may play a role in causing cancer of respiratory organs but that it is neither the only cause nor the main cause nor is it predominantly responsible for the rising frequency of lung cancer observed during recent decades He believes that exposure to many industrial fumes chromates nickel arsenic and others gaso- line fumes tire and asphalt dust and radioactive dust is of great importance in producing cancer of the lung Although only a small proportion of the 28.000 Americans who died of lung cancer last year were occupationally exposed to inciting environmental substances it is Dr. Hueper's belief that in view of the flung pollution of the air these carcinogenic substances are inhaled by the general population as well as by those occupationally exposed With the expansion of industry in the past 50 years there has been a corresponding increase in air pollution Fuel oil consumption is now 31g times as great as it was 30 years ago Exhausts from motor vehicles contribute to air pollution motor fuel consumption is five times what it was in 1933. Roads surfaced with asphalt and oils are a source of fine dust which adds to air pollution | Experiments with different animals to learn whether suspected substances in tobacco or tobacco smoke or in cigarette paper can actually produce lung cancer have so far provided inconclusive clues Not only must one be cautious in relating to humans the results of experiments performed on mice rats and other species but these experiments have yielded contradictory results However recent experi mental work by Dr. Ernest Wynder of the Kettering Institute is of interest since it appears to show that car- cinogenic effects depend upon the dose of the tar Tars and hydrocarbons such as benzpyrene are at present among the suspected carcinogenic materials in tobacco smoke As CU's tests show all cigarettes contained appreciable amounts of tars If Dr. Wynder's work is confirmed low tar cigarettes should be less likely to induce lung cancer than cigarettes with normal tar level It would be gratifying says the American Cancer Society if it could cut through the smoking turbulance and pro- duce a neat final answer to the controversy about the relation between various environmental agents including smok- ing and cancer of the lung However it cannot The Society's Society's policy is this It intends to make widely available facts that bear on the question of whether to smoke or not to smoke . The American Cancer Society has no plans for a campaign against cigarette smoking Smoking is a habit which gives comfort and pleasure to millions supports a great industry and brings millions to the govern- ment in taxes . The final decision on whether to smoke cigarettes rests with the individual . . $ A medical and statistical study of several hundred thou- sand veterans of World War I is being conducted by the US Public Health Service to determine the relation be- tween smoking and cancer of the lung and other disorders It is hoped that the findings of this survey will help to clear up important aspects of the smoking controversy The most reasonable view of cancer of the lung at this time would relate its phenomenal and alarming rise partly to the diffusion into the air of carcinogens derived from industry and transportation partly to unusual exposures to carcinogens in many occupations and partly to excessive cigarette smoking The control of lung cancer would therefore appear to require a pronged effort against 11 air pollution 21 occupational exposure to specific carcinogenic agents and 31 excessive cigarette smoking Until more conclusive evidence is reported it would seem prudent to reduce cigarette smoking to less than a pack a day or to smoke a pipe or cigars in moderation Stop smoking For anyone to argue that everyone should stop smoking because of its hazards would be highly unrealistic Relatively few smokers adopt the tobacco habit because of a sensuous appreciation of the fragrance of the cured tobac co leaf In adolescence smoking is frequently a symbol of emancipation from the fetters of childhood Heightened nervous tension is the usual explanation given for the tobacco habit and there is much evidence to support it During times of national crisis as in a war tobacco consumption rises sharply At all times man is exposed to a multitude of stresses and tensions Smoking is doubtless one of the habits man has adopted to contend with these tensions Reaching for a cigarette cigar or pipe hold- ing it in the mouth sucking on it lighting it inhaling it and blowing out the smoke all tend to relieve tensions The stimulating or comforting effects of tobacco may be so valuable to some persons that they are willing to risk whatever physical harm may be associated with the habit On the other hand there are many for whom these risks are not worthwhile and who will without too great a sacrifice cut out or cut down their cigarette smoking It would be gratifying to conclude this article with a successful formula for giving up the tobacco habit Mark Twain said that to stop smoking was easy " ought to know times he asserted because I've done it a thousand medicine Modern medicine has no better answer 110 MARCH 1957