BOSTON -- A reanalysis of nicotine yield from major brand-name cigarettes sold in Massachusetts from 1997 to 2005 has confirmed that manufacturers have steadily increased the levels of this agent in cigarettes.
This independent analysis, based on data submitted to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) by the manufacturers, found that increases in smoke nicotine yield per cigarette averaged 1.6% each year, or about 11% over a seven-year period (1998-2005). Nicotine is the primary addictive agent in cigarettes.
In addition to confirming the magnitude of the increase, first reported this past August by MDPH, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) extended the analysis to:
Ascertain how manufacturers accomplished the increase -- not only by intensifying the concentration of nicotine in the tobacco but also by modifying several design features of cigarettes to increase the number of puffs per cigarette. The end result is a product that is potentially more addictive.
Examine all market categories -- finding that smoke nicotine yields were increased in the cigarettes of each of the four major manufacturers and across all the major cigarette market categories (e.g. mentholated, non-mentholated, full-flavor, light, ultralight).
The analysis was performed by a research team from the Tobacco Control Research Program at HSPH led by program director Gregory Connolly, professor of the practice of public health, and Howard Koh, associate dean for public health practice at HSPH and a former commissioner of public health for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The other co-investigators were HSPH researchers Hillel R. Alpert and Geoffrey Ferris Wayne.
"Cigarettes are finely tuned drug delivery devices, designed to perpetuate a tobacco pandemic," said Koh. "Yet precise information about these products remains shrouded in secrecy, hidden from the public. Policy actions today requiring the tobacco industry to disclose critical information about nicotine and product design could protect the next generation from the tragedy of addiction."
"Our findings call into serious question whether the tobacco industry has changed at all in its pursuit of addicting smokers since signing the Master Settlement Agreement of 1998 with the State Attorneys General, said Connolly. Our analysis shows that the companies have been subtly increasing the drug nicotine year by year in their cigarettes, without any warning to consumers, since the settlement. Scrutiny by the Attorneys General is imperative. Proposed federal legislation has been filed by Senator Edward Kennedy that would address this abuse and bring the tobacco industry under the rules that regulate other manufacturers of drugs."
In a response to the report, Philip Morris USA said its data reported to the MDPH show that nicotine yields for Marlboro cigarettes were the same in 2006 as they were in 1997.
Data reported to the state from 1997-2006 reflect that there are random variations in cigarette nicotine yields, both upwards and downwards, and that variations are not consistent in either direction across reporting years.The reported yield for Marlboro cigarettes for both 1997 and 2006 was 1.86 milligrams per cigarette.
No trends for measures the authors believe are related to cigarette design and increased nicotine yield were observed for Marlboro cigarettes, including puffs per cigarette, nicotine content per cigarette or nicotine concentration in the tobacco rod, according to the country's largest cigarette manufacturer.
Beginning in 1997, Massachusetts regulations have required an annual report to be filed with the MDPH by all manufacturers of cigarettes sold in Massachusetts. The reported data include machine-based measures of nicotine yield as well as measures of cigarette design related to nicotine delivery.
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