Protecting the Public Health by Strengthening the Food and Drug Administration's Authority over Tobacco Products

• Published in: The New England journal of medicine Vol. 343; no. 24; pp. 1806 - 1809
• Main Author: Myers, Matthew L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Massachusetts Medical Society 14-12-2000
• Subjects: Advertising; Child; Government; Humans; Ingredients; Nicotiana; Nicotine; Plants, Toxic; Public health; Smoking; Smoking - legislation & jurisprudence; Tobacco industry; Tobacco Industry - legislation & jurisprudence; Tobacco Industry - standards; United States; United States Food and Drug Administration - legislation & jurisprudence; United States Food and Drug Administration - organization & administration; United States
• ISSN: 0028-4793; 1533-4406
• DOI: 10.1056/NEJM200012143432412

For years, public health experts hypothesized that cigarettes that had less tar would also be less hazardous. However, recent studies have actually shown an increase in the relative risk of all major smoking-related diseases among smokers, even though most cigarettes now contain far less tar than those that were on the market 40 years ago.
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One reason may be that the tobacco companies designed these newer cigarettes to reduce the tar levels that are measured by the machine-generated tests sanctioned by the government without affecting the actual intake of tar by smokers and without regard to the level of specific . . .