Tobacco Daily News Items

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The Tasmanian Health Department's website, http://www.dchs.tas.gov.au, is expected to provide more information on the bill shortly.

• 07/30/97 Ammonia Amplifies Nicotine, Study Confirms Washington Post
  
  Pankow conducted a series of laboratory studies to explore how ammonia compounds affect the chemical properties of nicotine. Nicotine hitches a ride on the solid particles found in cigarette smoke. "What ammonia can do is make it easier for the nicotine to leave the smoke particles" by stripping a hydrogen ion from the nicotine molecule, Pankow found. That loosens the bond between the drug and the vehicle, Pankow explained. Some nicotine even goes directly to a gas phase. When the smoker inhales the particles, this more volatile form of nicotine can be quickly absorbed by lung tissue. Pankow's research showed this form of nicotine is absorbed 100 times more readily than the natural form.
• 07/30/97 Ammonia Linked to a Type of Nicotine; Study Finds Use of Ammonia Can Dramatically Increase the Amount of Nicotine Available to Smokers The New York Times
  
  In a study in the August issue of Environmental Science & Technology, a publication of the American Chemical Society, researchers from the Oregon Graduate Institute in Portland said they had shown that the amount of nicotine available to a smoker could be adjusted by varying the ammonia levels. James Pankow, a professor of environmental science and engineering who headed the study, said that the effect of adding ammonia to tobacco is similar to what occurs when cocaine is chemically converted to the more potent and smokable drug known as crack.

Ammonia and ammonia-forming compounds are routinely added to cigarette tobacco. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has argued that this is done to promote the formation of the volatile free-base form of nicotine in particles of mainstream smoke so as to increase the delivery of nicotine to the smoker. This study determined that the presence of gaseous ammonia can indeed greatly increase the volatility of nicotine from particles of tobacco smoke. Exposure of tobacco smoke particulate material to 80 parts per million by volume gaseous ammonia caused about a factor 100 increase in nicotine volatility over what was observed when little residual ammonia was present. Considering the temperature, relative humidity and particle concentration of inhaled mainstream tobacco smoke in a smoker's lungs, the results indicate that under very low ammonia concentrations less than 1% of nicotine will be present in the gas phase at equilibrium. Under a full ammonia effect this percentage can be increased to at least 25%. Since the amount of nicotine delivered to a smoker may be a function of the gas phase ammonia concentration, the results of this study may be of interest to agencies involved in the regulation of nicotine delivery from cigarettes.

Tisch, whose Loews Corp owns Lorillard Tobacco, was elected president May 15 amidst criticism about his tobacco ties. Critics included the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, the Commission on Social Action of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the Religious Action Center, Jewish Theological Seminary students, plus some rabbis and Jewish lay figures. Stephen Solender, UJA executive vice president said that if Tisch's tobacco connection "becomes a battlefield, it would undermine our ability to raise the money to help the people who look to us for social services."

Tisch seems willing to attack his critics right back. Most outspoken about the election were noted fellow New York philanthropists Henry and Edith Everett, who had just withdrawn a $3 million donation to a new Children's Zoo. 5 days after his election, Tisch;s father (and co-chairman of Loews) Laurence stepped in and donated $4.5 million to the zoo, in what observers saw as a direct slap at the Everetts. "It is deeply distressing that any venue that is dedicated to children should be supported by people who work in an industry that tries to induce children to smoke," said Mrs. Everett. One can only surmise her opinion of the UJA's new Humanitarian.

The awards dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel raised $2.3 million for the charity, according to Murdoch's local newspaper, the New York Post. Murdoch received accolades from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (via remote hookup), ex-secretary of state Henry Kissinger, and columnist Liz Smith among others.

Proceeds from the event go toward "funding services in New York and Israel, including geriatric and AIDS care, and Jewish education," according to the Post.

It's a good thing that volunteerism has become a popular issue because we'll need all the help we can get for the kids who can't smoke any more.

The tobacco companies have done such a good job marketing to kids that the teens can't just go cold turkey. And this is not just about nicotine withdrawal--it is about role withdrawal. Cigarettes have an established role in their lives that won't just go away with the stroke of a pen.

The cigarette companies long ago identified not just their most important new customers, but also the vacuum in society they would fill: teen initiation.

>From the early fifties, cigarette makers understood their role was to help teens grow up.

The key brand in this debate is Marlboro, made by Philip Morris, because over 70% of white male youths grow up on that brand. (Kool and now Newport have similar roles in the African-American Community and Virginia Slims, another Philip Morris product, does the same for girls.)

>From a tobacco marketer's perspective this is the challenge: the earlier someone begins smoking the less likely they are to ever quit or at least, the longer they will continue smoking. RJ Reynolds' own figures show the best years are from 16-18. (13-15 is not bad but from 19-21 it drops rapidly and anyone who starts smoking after 21 is a poor bet as a long term, brand-loyal customer.)

The fact is, to a teenage smoker, the nicotine and even the brand, is as much a part of their personality as their middle name and typically stays that way until their dying day.

We can argue endlessly about how our society lacks meaningful initiation rituals for teens that challenge them and give them appropriate status to enter into adult life. We can also scratch our heads about why they have to be rebellious. As Margaret Meade once pointed out when studying the Samoans, teens don't have to rebel. But then again, few societies have as many options, generational shifts and as long a dormancy between puberty and adulthood as we do.

The tobacco marketers long ago recognized they could fill this role either on their own or, as some tobacco company documents have shown, in the company of other adult-oriented products like alcohol and drugs.

The first foray into their new world of consumer understanding took place with the original Marlboro in 1954. Who remembers today that the original Marlboro man had a tattoo? We may have wiped it from our memory and it may or may not exist as part of the "brand DNA," but it has a certain resonance today.

What do we offer our kids when they want a passage into adulthood: do we just say, "don't stay up, don't explore, just say no"? All the tobacco people had to do was say, "just do what many adults do." They did more than that of course, they also spent millions in research and proved to be astute analysts of teens and popular culture.

But it does leave us with the question, what are we the concerned adults going to do about our teens?

Are we going to invent new ways that teens can express their yearning for adulthood in satisfying ways? Are we going to face what has become a real life issue for many parents: what do I say if I discover that my child smokes? What do we say if we are asked whether my child can have a tattoo or a pierced eyebrow? Or whether we should encourage the use of condoms or continue insisting that sex does not exist before adulthood?

Once we understand how much the tobacco marketers exploited these teenage dilemmas we should set aside some portion of the proposed tobacco industry settlement to cover the study and attempt sto produce solutions to these coming-of-age problem.

As for the critical question of tattoos or piercings: piercings may be more shocking but they are revocable where tattoos typically aren't. If we have reason to believe that teens continue smoking after the "settlement"-- and they will--then we'd better be sure that the cigarettes that get into teens' hands are also "revocable" i.e. they have no addictive substances like nicotine. Tobacco doesn't kill teens it kills adults. It is addiction that kills teens by assuring they will go on to be adults that smoke.

Let's get real about banning nicotine from teen-available cigarettes. We should make it harder to buy nicotine cigarettes and force the tobacco industry to provide a non-addicting version for their product (the "methadone of tobacco") that is readily available while the nicotine product becomes essentially a prescriptive product like any other controlled substance.

Then we should use the tobacco companies' teen marketing dollars to figure out how to make coming-of-age a constructive experience.

Alan Brody is a new media advertising executive and founder of the mar.com awards and Hollyweb conference who began his career as a cigarette copywriter and author of the study, "Cigarette Semiotics."

© Alan Brody, 1997

Nsa Critiques Cornell Study On Smoking And Restaurants

A Northwestern University economist hired by the National Smokers Alliance found that a Cornell University study on the effects of a New York City clean indoor air law was flawed. Michael Evans said that, contrary to the Cornell study's conclusion that restaurant sales increased following the implementation of New York City's smokefree policy, his study estimated a 9 to 16 percent decline in restaurant sales.

Cornell researcher Cathy Enz said the critique was misleading, since it treated her study as an economic impact study when it was really a survey of consumer behavior: "At the heart of this issue is a difference between the study we conducted and the one that they think we should have conducted. What they have done is critiqued our paper for having not found what we did not study in the first place. . . . The fact of the matter is that the NSA themselves have not attempted an economic impact study because they are not prepared to find results that conflict with their agenda."

Cornell University defended the study. Leo Renaghan, director of Cornell's Center for Hospitality Research, said, "We unequivocally stand behind this study. What we have is an advocacy group distorting solid research, and I think it's a shame that the restaurant industry is being held hostage by this political agenda."

Source: Milford Prewitt, "Economist Claims Cornell Smoking- Ban Study Is Flawed," NATION'S RESTAURANT NEWS,

News accounts vary as to the date of the memo. Carrick Mollenkamp (Bloomberg)'s Raleigh News & Observer article of March 22 states, "Also in the Liggett papers is a 1970 memo titled 'The Concept of Less Hazardous Cigarettes.'" John Schwartz and Saundra Torry's Washington Post article of March 21 refers to the "Report by a chemist consultant to tobacco companies on the ethical implications of making "less hazardous" low-tar cigarettes (1978)."

The ellipses and British spelling and punctuation are in the original.

The question, therefore, becomes: "How feasible would it be to banish smoking from among human activities?"

The crusaders would have us believe that it is merely a question of prohibitive expense and a change of image - away from the virile masculine stereotype, or liberated woman, towards weak, degenerate, dependent characteristics. If we can implant this concept in the minds of adolescents, smoking will be banished for ever.

This notion does not bear critical examination. All recorded civilizations have developed the means to cushion harsh realities by the use of drugs, and most have accepted this as a natural human function. Only over the last 100 years has the use of drugs (with the attendant risk for a small minority) been frowned upon. This disapproval has been based on several different aspects of the problem, from a quasi-religious approach ("an assault on the temple of God") to a fearful concern for degraded humanity. Few have queried the underlying reasons for this consistent human endeavour, the development of drugs that induce tranquility or euphoria.

Our view is that it is related to the state of receptivity of the human mind, which is subject to such a multitude of stimuli that eventually it requires some dampening effect. We learn to provide this, usually by sleep. . . that is by switching off. But we have also learned that certain chemicals bring relief of the so-called 'stress' which enables the mind to continue in a more enjoyable 'frame.' In this sense, the use of nicotine is noble, for it is a truly ingenious solution to the management of the internal environment. But it is, regrettably, associated with attendant risks - risks which are unacceptable in our society, but which should not, necessarily, lead to a ban of the original product. Rather, we should devote our efforts towards reduction of the perceived risks.

If these arguments are accepted, we may conclude that there is nothing unethical in the concept of a safer cigarette; that the use of artificial means to control mood is a very human characteristic; that we should not seek to expand but cannot dispel the habit; and, that our real duty lies in diminishing the adverse consequences.

03/28/97Tobacco lawyers are getting burned by damaging industry revelations.Can they rise from the ashes? An article on tobacco lawyers and the new legal heat on them; plus 2 related articles. Originally published in the May 1996 Res Gestae, the official publication of the Indiana State Bar Association. (articles printed with permission from author). These articles generated controversy within the Indiana State Bar Association about the publication of articles which may reflect negatively on the legal profession. For further information, contact Elsa Kramer

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Camel Advertising Goes alt.fetish

March 5, 1997. New York, NY. A new Camel ad has appeared which may indicate the campaign is about to take a leaf or two from Yahoo's smoking Fetish page (http://www.yahoo.com/Society_and_Culture/Sexuality/Fetishes/Smoking). The ad, appearing in the March 5 edition of the free New York City weekly, "NY Press," features an atmospheric head-and-shoulders profile a woman softly exhaling smoke in swirling, evocative tendrils which form the shape of a camel. True to the smoking fetish tradition, she appears elegantly dressed and coifed, her head reclining, possibly on the top of a couch or club banquette.

As if afraid to intrude on the intimacy of the moment, a small Camel package appears in the lower right corner, accompanied by the text, "What You're Looking For."

The largest non-photograph element in the ad is the Surgeon General's Warning which appears in the top right: "Smoking By Pregnant Women May Result in Fetal Injury, Premature Birth, and Low Birth Weight."

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GREECE: Tobacco Company Claims Invention of Cancer-Safe Filter

February 8, 1997. A Greek tobacco company is claiming that it has invented a cigarette filter which uses hemoglobin to eliminate cancer-causing elements in tobacco smoke.

A Greek Cooperative Cigarette Manufacturing Company (CCCMC) researcher told of the development on Greece's Star Channel. The interview was broadcast in a Health and Medicine segment on CNN World Report on February 5.

Professor George Diliconstantinos claimed cancer-causing elements must find in cells a metal, especially iron, in order to produce the toxic reactions which cause mutation.

"This process by the toxics, the toxic substances in tobacco, in the cell, are now done in the filter. Why? Because the iron they're looking for in order to react can now be found in the filter," said Diliconstantinos in the translated interview.

Star Channel nterviewer Demie Hadji said, "Tests among volunteers showed that the smoke exhaled from bio-filter tipped cigarettes is 40 times less toxic than that puffed from conventional cigarettes."

An item in the Jan. 23, 1997 Irish Times also noted the invention, quoting an unnamed researcher: "Smokers who use normal filters retain 1.75 ml of tar in, their lungs. Bio filter reduces this amount by 40 times. . . [The bio-filter] acts as an artificial lung, which retains all toxic substances and sends non toxic smoke to the lungs."

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LA: Judge Throws Out Tobacco's Medicaid Suit Challenge

On Friday, Jan 10, 1997, Judge Wilford Carter in the 14th JDC of Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana denied the defendants challenge to the capacity of the AG and ruled that AG Richard P. Ieyoub has the authority to proceed with his lawsuit against the tobacco industry to prohibit the sale of tobacco products to minors and to recoup the costs of treating smoking related illnesses.

The Judge also ruled that there was no legal basis to transfer the case from Calcasieu Parish, to the State's capital, Baton Rouge.

Finally, the defendants have agreed to produce all liability insurance policies within 30 days. La litigants have a right to directly name insurance carriers as defendants in lawsuits.

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Rumor Central

Is it true that. . .

• . . . The incoming President of the AMA lives next door to staunch tobacco ally Thomas Bliley (R-VA), and that his campaign literature had a picture of himself and Bliley together? (05/23/97)
• . . . three very uninvited visitors dropped in to the major health orgs' Chicago confab, which had been called to discuss acquiescing to a settlement? Their hard-line input was definitely unwanted, and word is they might have been forcibly ejected--but having the hotel dicks toss out a US Congressman is a no-no. (05/02/97)
• . . . the American Law Institute is redefining tort law with input from the tobacco industry? The American Law Institute, an academic arm of the legal community, will be meeting next week to vote on the final version of the section of the Restatement (2nd) of Torts Section 402A, which deals with product liability. This section, although not absolutely binding on courts, is extremely persuasive in establishing the criteria for product liability in court cases, particularly in ambiguous areas such as tobacco and cigarettes. (05/01/97)

November 11, 1996, p. 7. (sdb 12/31/96)

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The Funny Pages

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