It only took a few decades, but the Federal Trade Commission has finally put an end to some of the trickery used in cigarette advertisements and marketing.
Since the mid-1960s, tobacco manufacturers have been using an industry-created system to measure the amount of cancer-causing tar in their so-called "low-tar" products. But that measuring tool --- a device known as the Cambridge Filter Method --- is essentially worthless. It assumes that consumers draw smoke from their cigarettes at a uniform rate, as a machine would, and inhale the same amount of tar and nicotine with each puff.
As any tobacco addict knows, the amount of smoke inhaled varies widely from one smoker to the next. Studies have shown that smokers often draw longer on low-tar cigarettes, smoke more of them and even pinch the filters to concentrate the flow of nicotine into their lungs. That tends to negate whatever minimal benefit they may have gotten from choosing a low-tar brand in the first place.
Yet for years the FTC --- the only government agency empowered to regulate cigarettes and enforce marketing rules --- allowed the deception to continue.
Recently, the National Cancer Institute commissioned a series of studies confirming that cigarette designs had been altered to reduce the amount of tar and nicotine that the Cambridge Filter Method was able to measure. Documenting that flaw allowed the FTC in November to rescind its guidance to manufacturers, telling them they can no longer make claims about tar and nicotine levels based on testing by a machine.
The delay in barring such bogus claims illustrates once again the power the tobacco industry still enjoys in Washington. That influence was also apparent earlier this year when Congress failed to agree on legislation that would have allowed the Food and Drug Administration to regulate the content of cigarettes for the first time. The Bush administration opposed the effort, as did many of the tobacco companies, arguing it was an unnecessary intrusion into the manufacturing of a legal product.
Despite widespread support --- the measure had 56 co-sponsors in the Senate --- negotiations broke down over whether the FDA would be allowed to regulate the use of menthol in cigarette brands. The proposed bill exempted menthol-laced brands from regulation, drawing the ire of minority health groups who pointed out that nearly 75 percent of African-American smokers prefer menthol cigarettes.
The measure may come up again in the new Congress that convenes in January,
Meanwhile, the FTC --- tobacco's lone government regulatory agency --- has finally caught on, taking steps to ensure that consumers are not deceived into thinking there is a safe cigarette brand.
--- Mike King, for the editorial board (mking@ajc.com)
Copyright 2008 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution