American Legacy Foundation(R)-Funded Study Says Increased Nicotine Levels Appear In Cigarettes Popular With American Youth

Main Category: Smoking / Quit Smoking
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Public Health
Article Date: 19 Jan 2007 - 0:00 PST

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions

New research confirms that the levels of the addictive agent nicotine have increased in cigarettes since 1997, just one year before Big Tobacco reached a Master Settlement Agreement with 46 states and five U.S. territories. A portion of the MSA restricted ways that tobacco companies could market their products, and the same MSA created the American Legacy Foundation -- a funder of this Harvard research -- to develop public education campaigns to prevent youth from starting to smoke and help smokers who want to quit.

These data from Harvard University are an expanded study of findings first released in August of last year by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Both studies show that nicotine levels in seven brand families -- including Marlboro, Newport and Camel cigarettes -- have increased significantly between 1997 and 2005. American Legacy Foundation President and CEO Dr. Cheryl Healton said news of nicotine increases in these brands is particularly troubling, since they are favorites of American youth.

"Smoking isn't a choice for many people -- it's an addiction," Healton said. "Since most smokers -- more than 80 percent -- start before they turn 18 years old, these data mean that young people in America may be getting larger doses of nicotine. This may have implications on the rate at which new smokers become addicted, and it could increase the number of young people that will become lifelong tobacco industry customers."

In addition, further research is needed to determine how these upward trends may affect nicotine intake among the 45 million current smokers in the United States and what impact this may have in their struggle to quit smoking.

The Harvard study particularly looked at nicotine levels in the Marlboro brand family and demonstrated a conclusive upward trend during this period. Like the Massachusetts DPH report, the Harvard study found that levels of inhalable nicotine increased regardless of whether the cigarettes were menthol, full flavor, light or ultra light. Researchers used data provided by the tobacco companies to review possible causes for the increase related to cigarette design and concluded that the single most important factor in the increased rates of inhalable nicotine was the amount of nicotine in the tobacco chosen for the cigarettes.

Harvard researchers have been quoted as saying that this increase was systematic, and the likelihood that the nicotine increases occurred by chance was less than one in one thousand.

"We're really grateful to the American Legacy Foundation for enabling Harvard School of Public Health to do this important research," said Greg Connolly, a public health professor and director of the Tobacco Control Research Program at the Harvard School of Public Health. "I think it's time for science -- not the economic health of the industry -- to prevail and protect Americans."

The American Legacy Foundation(R) is dedicated to building a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. Located in Washington, D.C., the foundation develops programs that address the health effects of tobacco use, especially among vulnerable populations disproportionately affected by the toll of tobacco, through grants, technical assistance and training, partnerships, youth activism, and counter-marketing and grassroots marketing campaigns. The foundation's programs include truth(R), a national youth smoking prevention campaign that has been cited as contributing to significant declines in youth smoking; EXSM, an innovative public health program designed to speak to smokers in their own language and change the way they approach quitting; research initiatives exploring the causes, consequences and approaches to reducing tobacco use; and a nationally-renowned program of outreach to priority populations. The American Legacy Foundation was created as a result of the November 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) reached between attorneys general from 46 states, five U.S. territories and the tobacco industry. Visit http://www.americanlegacy.org.

American Legacy Foundation
http://www.americanlegacy.org