Tobacco and Public Health - TCSC Indonesia

Chapter 44
Regulation of the cigarette:
Controlling cigarette emissions
Nigel Gray
Remarkably, the cigarette has escaped orthodox regulation of content and emissions in
all countries, although there are some regulations capping such measures as ‘tar’, nicotine,
and carbon monoxide. These have been measured by the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) method (United States Public Health Service 1996) or slight variants
thereof. In a few countries additives must be notified, but are not controlled. The
reasons for this strange arrangement in a world where consumer products as simple as
the humble sausage are routinely regulated, are difficult to define. Certainly the
tobacco industry influence has been opposed to detailed regulation until very recently,
but this is not the only reason. Regulators have, understandably, been reluctant to enter
the field until as recently as 1996 (Kessler et al. 1996). This is not surprising as the
products are immensely complex and vary greatly between and within brands and
countries (Fischer et al. 1990; Gray et al. 2000; Gray and Boyle 2002). The technical
challenges of regulating such a product are substantial not only because of the complexity
of smoke chemistry, but also because no regulator wishes to take responsibility
for ‘approving’ a product which is dangerous, thereby removing at least some of the
responsibility for its dangers from the shoulders of the manufacturers.
This latter point remains a serious concern for regulators but the reason that the
time for regulation has come is that 50 years of leaving cigarette design, unconstrained
except for tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide, to the tobacco industry, has not delivered
a product with acceptably reduced risk (Thun and Burns 2001). That regulation is
timely is agreed, for example, by Philip Morris (now named Altria), whose web site
states the following (Philip Morris USA 2002).
‘Philip Morris U.S.A. strongly supports the passage of legislation that would establish
a tough but reasonable framework giving the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) the authority to regulate cigarettes. We believe FDA regulation would provide
greater consistency in tobacco policy, more predictability for our business and an effective
way to address issues that are of concern to our company and society.’
Issues set out in the website include: Youth smoking prevention; Ingredient and
constituent testing and disclosure; text of health warnings on cigarette packages and
in advertisements; consistent use of brand descriptors such as ‘light’ and ‘ultra light’;