Control on cigarettes

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32524, 6 February 1971, Page 16

Control on cigarettes

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) WASHINGTON, Feb. 5. Advertisements prepared after today by all but one of America’s cigarette-makers will list tar and nicotine content, a factor the United States Surgeon-General has declared crucial to links between smoking and disease, the Associated Press reported. .

But most manufacturers—including those of low-tar and nicotine cigarettes—say that they do not expect the disclosures to affect sales. In the latest Government tests of 120 brands of cigarettes, tar content ranged from three milligrams to 31 milligrams. Federal officials estimate that cigarettes with less than 15 milligrams of tar content account for about 3 per cent of all cigarettes sold. A comparison of Government test results and industry sales figures show that 70 brands have less tar and 70 have less nicotine that the best-selling brand, Winston king-size. Forty-nine brands have less tar and 62 have less nicotine than the second-best seller, Marlboro king-size and 113 brands have less tar and nicotine that the number-

three seller, unfiltered Pall Mall. An industry agreement, signed last December after the Federal Trade Commission had proposed requiring tar and nicotine disclosure in advertisements, does not require comparative figures in the advertisements. The only cigarette maker which refused to sign the agreement was American Brands, which markets Pall Mall, Tareyton and Lucky Strike. An American Brands spokesman declined to give a reason. A spokesman for Lorillard, whose Kent is the only one of the 25 most popular brands with a tar and nicotine content among the lowest 10, said that it was too early to say if the disclosures would affect sales. A spokesman for Philip Morris, maker of Marlboro, said that the firm did not expect any noticeable effect. An official of Stephano Brothers, a small Philadelphia firm which produces Marvels, the brand with the lowest tar and nicotine rating among nationally distributed brands, agreed the revised advertising would not boost sales of low tar and nicotine cigarettes.

The Surgeon - General’s Office has long advocated a switch to lower tar and nicotine cigarettes for smokers who cannot or will not give up the habit, but a spokesman said that there were no new plans for an educational campaign aimed at capitalising on the new industry advertisements. The Surgeon-General has linked smoking to cancer, coronary heart disease, chronic bronchitis, pulmonary emphysema and other diseases. The industry-sponsored Tobacco Institute has accused the Government of submerging evidence which the institute contends raises doubts

about links between smoking and disease. The advertising disclosures follow a new, tougher label placed on packs late last year and the end of broadcast cigarette commercials early this year. It will be more than a week before the advertisements begin showing up in newspapers, the time necessary for preparation, printing, distribution and final placement. Magazine advertisements will take a month or more and billboard displays even longer.