| Research by a UC
San Diego scientist is debunking claims that "low-tar" or "light"
cigarettes are healthier than regular cigarettes. A study by Dr. David Burns finds that
low-tar cigarettes do not reduce the chance of developing a smoking-related illness. Dr. Burns, a professor at the UC San Diego School of
Medicine, analyzed health data from smokers dating back 50 years.
“The bottom line in this report is
that the low-tar cigarette is an illusion,” Dr. Burns said. “It's a
deception."
There is no difference, according to the
doctor, in the amount of tar and nicotine people get or in the risk of smoking when you
use low tar and nicotine cigarettes.
"The low-tar cigarette is just as
deadly as a full-flavored cigarette, perhaps more so," Dr. Burns said.
“That’s because with a low-tar cigarette you tend to inhale more deeply in order
to get the same dose of tar and nicotine.
There is also a different curing process
for the tobacco than they used to have 30 years ago and that may be responsible for the
increase in adenocarcinoma of the lung that we're seeing.” All lung cancer is deadly
of course. Only 14 percent of people who develop lung cancer survive for 5 years.
In 1981, showed that people who smoked
low-tar cigarettes were slightly less likely to get lung cancer. So the government told
smokers that smoking “lights” was an option for those who couldn’t quit
smoking altogether.
Everyone thought this would be a good idea.
But five years before tobacco companies had internal reports that showed that there wasn't
any difference in how much smoke you got if you smoked a Marlboro regular or a Marlboro
light. “If we’d had had that information in 1981 we never would have given that
advice," Dr. Burns said.
"It makes me angry,” he added.
“Because I was the editor of the Surgeon General's report (that) recommended to
people that if they couldn't quit, they should switch to these products."
The fallacy in that thinking was that when
you switch from a high tar cigarette to a low tar cigarette, you usually increase the
number of cigarettes that you smoke per day and the amount of smoke you draw in.
"So, we have had (all these) years of
an illusion, of a deception of the American people,” Dr. Burns said. “The real
tragedy is that people who were thinking about their health saw this as a safer
choice.”
Dr. Burns said the research shows that the
only proven way to reduce the disease risks from smoking is to quit. |
