Study exposes tobacco industry's ‘shonky’ behaviour

Researchers in the United States have revealed that tobacco companies have continually changed the ingredients and the design of their cigarettes over time without alerting smokers.

A new study by researchers at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) shows that smokers were not alerted even when the changes exceeded acceptable product variance guidelines and they have called on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to demand complete disclosure from tobacco companies of changes made to cigarettes.

The Harvard researchers say that consumers who buy the same brand of product are not made aware of how that product has been altered and what effect those alterations might have on their levels of addiction or harm.

Greg Connolly, director of the Tobacco Control Research Program at HSPH, says the hope is that the FDA will require disclosure of any changes made to tobacco products and that the changes are disallowed if shown to increase appeal, addiction and harm.

For the study, Connolly and lead author Geoffrey Ferris Wayne, an HSPH researcher, studied internal tobacco company documents released following the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement - these documents describe significant changes made to commercial products over time, including blend, processing, casing, flavouring and physical design features - for example, new methods were developed to process tobacco, altering the smoke chemistry and the form of nicotine delivery, and the levels of processed tobaccos were regularly adjusted within brands.

The researchers say despite the constant innovation of tobacco products, which in many cases have exceeded the levels of acceptable variance established within the tobacco industry, for the most part, these changes were not disclosed to consumers.

Ferris Wayne says even incremental changes that occur over a period of years can result in significant design differences and the resulting product may have altered chemistry or delivery, yet the smoker is largely unaware of these changes and this highlights the need for industry transparency and accountability.

The study builds on earlier research done at HSPH on how products are designed to enhance appeal and addiction.

Last year Senate hearings on the new FDA bill discussed that research, including how tobacco companies have increased nicotine content over time, manipulated menthol and added candy-like flavours to enhance appeal to children.

Connolly and Ferris Wayne suggest that until regulators have a system in place for assessing product revisions, all changes to tobacco products should be reported to the FDA and that no changes be allowed until they have been scientifically shown to reduce addiction or harm.

This new research comes at an opportune moment as U.S. President Barrack Obama prepares to sign a bill giving the FDA oversight of the tobacco industry, - the new bill will give the FDA authority to oversee the advertising, marketing and manufacturing of tobacco products and has been lauded by doctors and public health advocates as it promises unprecedented new federal regulations on the tobacco industry.

While the bill will not give the FDA the authority to ban outright the sale of cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco and other tobacco products, it will foster reduced nicotine levels, administer product safety tests and issue recalls if necessary, implemented by a new office within the FDA, the Center for Tobacco Products.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the tobacco industry spends nearly $40 million a day on marketing, as many as 400,000 Americans die each year from tobacco use and approximately 1,000 children become new, regular smokers every day and it is hoped the new regulation of the industry which apparently has the support of the nation's largest cigarette maker, Philip Morris, will help reduce those numbers.

The study was supported by the National Cancer Institute and appears in the "Online First" section of the Journal of Tobacco Control and will also appear in an upcoming print issue of the journal.