BAT CDC Documents
Examination of a Concept Proposed by Gori for Rating Cigarettes
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- British American Tobacco
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- Author
- MASSEY SR
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SOU1"HaMP1ON ~D
BRITISH- AMERICAN TOBACCO COMPANY LIMITED
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EXAMINATION OF A CONCEPT PROPOSED BY GORI
FOR ~ATING CIGARETTES
REPOET NO. KDo 1789 ~ESTRICTED
25.3,1981
~THOK; S.R. Hassey
ZSSUED BY: D.E. Conway
PROG. REF. 26.01.002
26.O1.003
DZSTEIBUTION :
Dr. L.C.F. B~claaan
Dr. T.',J. ~uL;hes
Dr. K.A. Sanfocd
K.M. G£bb, Esq.
K.S. Wade, Esq.
R.G. Nlcholl$, Esq.
Herr E. R/tcershaus
Dr. F. Seehofer
Dr. C.J.P. de Siqueira
Mr. W. Van Pucten
H. Tudor, Esq.
Dr. D.C. FeLcon
Library
Copy No. 1, 2, 3,
II II
" " 6, 7
It II 8
" " 9, 10, 11
" " 12, 13
" " 14
" " 15
" " 16
" " 17
.... 18
.... 19
" " 20, 21
COPY NO.
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Croup P~zsearcb & Deve%opm~uc Centre,
Brtc~sh-American Tobacco Co. Ltd.,
SOUTHAMPTON.
25ch March, 1981
EXAMINATION OF A CONCEPT PROPOSED BY GORI
FOR RATING CIGARETTES
(Report No. RE.1789 Restricted)
SUMMARY
Dr. G.B. Gorl, formerly of che U.S. National Cancer Institute,
introduced the Idma of 'critical levels' for smokers daily exposure to
six constituents of cigarette smoke. Ic was araued, on the basis of
opidem/olosical evidence relating co typical pro-1960 U.S. cigarettes,
thac £f cercaln 'crlClcal levelst were noC exceeded, then smokers would
show no SEnator risk of disease or mortality than non-smokers. These
IcriUlcal levels' can be used as • basis for calculaulnE uhe number of
cigarettes/day, for any given existing commercial brand, which could be
smoked without increased risk over Chat of a non-smoker.
Consumer research was undertaken in cite U.K. using a cigarotte raced
sccordinS to the Gorl approach at |0 cigarettes/day. The essential
finding was chat smokers, especlally low tar smokers, can understand and
are interested in Che basic proposition, but are hi6hly sceptical of
manufacturer's claims. Third party endorsement from an authoritative,
Independent and objective body would, however, be more likely to influence
choir attitudes.
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Direct comnunlcatloa through brand advertising of any themes typified
by "these products are safe to smoke at X cigarettes/day" would have
severe legal implications. A possible approach would be to base a claim
co the fact that the total deliveries from X clgarettes/day do not exceed
those of the six smoke constituents associated with two pre-1960 ~ype
cigarettes. It is recomended that Operating Companies should discuss
wLth their Public Affairs departments ways of developing third party/medla
interest in the Gorl proposition. Consideration ~Lght also be given to
~ne launching of a 'sleeper' brand, albeit on a different platform, with
the potential of Kalnln~ sales impetus from any eventual publi=ation of
talrd party findings.
Iechnical Summary
Cigarette design work, covering Virginia and U.S. blended style
cigarettes, to aseess the feasibility of produclnS c~garettes with a
specific target "Daily Eating" is described. The problem in designing
s~=h clgarettes is in achievin~ selective contro~ over the delivery of
certain smoke constituents. In the =ase of Virginia cigaretues, deliveries
~ nicotine and carbon monoxide tend to exert control over the "Daily
RAting" - number of cigarettes that =an be smoked per day. With blended
cigarettes, nicotine end nitric oxide deliveries conuro~ the "Daily
A survey of "Daily Ratings" for U.K. low delivery brands over a six
=on~h period is also discussed. This survey reveals tba~ if cigarettes
~ers marketed on this basis, problems could be encountered in maintaining
t~e "Daily Rating", particularly if this was in excess of I0 cigarettes/day.
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INTRODUCTION
In the main, league tables tend to be constructed from tar (PMkR4F)
a~d nicoClne deliveries alone. Several attempts have been made to rank
,:Lgare~ces on a basis which takes Into account deliveries of addlclonal
stroke constituents; notably vapour phase constituents. Such rar~ngs
have often led to confusion in the minds of concerned consumers. With a
~Lew to overcoming this confusion, Dr. G.B. Gori proposed a system of
~ ltinE cigarettes by relating their deliveries of selected smoke constituents
~ ) a set of "critical levels" derived from delivery data for pre-1960
,:~garettes. Thia concept was introduced by Gori durinE his time as
deputy director of [he Division of Cancer Cause and Prevenclon at the
N,ational Cancer Inscltuce where he had a ~Jor involvement in the Smoking
~d Health Program.
A publication of "Daily Ratings" for low tar U.S. brands injected
s£gnlflcant lapetus, albait by chance, into the salts of Carlton. It was
~:herafore considered worthwhile investigating the feaslbillty of designing
,=Lgsrettes aimed at achlevlnE specific target "Daily Ra~Ings". Thls report
,:i,~als with several aspects associated with the concept, as veil as
d~scrlblni the cigarette design work carried out. The discussion is set
,:),It under the following main headings:
Development of the Concept.
Calculation of Daily Ratings'.
Validity of the Concept.
Deslgn of Cigarettes Co Achieve Specific Daily RatinKs.
Problems of Maintainlns a Daily Rating for a Brand on the Market.
Market Research into the Acceptability of the Concept.
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DZSCUSSlON
1, Development of the Concept
Gorl started by conducttnE a deta£1ed st~tlst£cA1 analysis o£
epide~tologlcal data which associated daily cigarette consumption with
increases in risk of mortality from 11 specific disuses (I). 'I1)..e
ep£de.Ltolo&tcal data was dravn from published stud£es conducted durin8
the 1950s. Gorl concluded from his analysis sharp compared co non-smokers,
apidemdolo81cal studies do not reveal a significantly increased risk o£
disease or mortality for smokers who consumed only 2 pre-1960 cisarettes
per day.
The averase dellverles of six selected smoke constltuenCs frnm pre-
1960 c£$aretCes were used by Gorl (I) to assisn "crlClcal levels" for
smokers daily exposure. The "critical levels" are simply obcalned by
multiplylng the £ndfvldual averaEe deliveries by 2. These data are shown
below together with the six smoke constituents and the average deliveries.
Smoke Constituent Avera6e OeliverT/cix "Critical
Level"
(pre-1960)
Tar (P~F) (mS) 43 86
~Ltcocine (mS) 3,0 6.0
Carbon Honoxide (m~) Z3 &6
Nitric Oxide (ug) 270 540
Hydrogen Cyanide (u£,) 410 810
Acrolatn (~&) 130 250
Gori's selection o£ the smoke constituents appears to be based on
the assertion that these constituents are the ones most frequently cited
as contributors to cancer, chronlc pulmonary d£seases and cardiovascular
impairment in smokers. The averase deliveries £or pre-[960 cisarettes.
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a~e sales vtiihted sverqes in the case of tar and ctcot~s, while the
.... sapour phase deliveries are derived from those of the University of
~,ntucky IRI Reference Cigarette.
Yn essence, the hypothesis 4s that if smokers exposure to the various
sr=oke constituenCs was 1LmLted to the "critical Zevels"s then their risk
,~ disease and mortality would not be substantially above that of non-
~,~okers. It is these "critical levels" that form the basis of the Daily
~cings for cigarettes.
Calculation of Daily Katin[~s
In 1978 Gorl published a report (2) in which he applied his hypothesis
o: "critical levels" to a survey of some 27 low tar U.S. brands. This
~-eport gave detaL1s of the maximum n~bers of cigarettes per day for each
h~and Chat a person could smoke without exceeding any of the smoke
,~+nsclCuenC "crlClcal levels". Calculation of the number of cigarettes/day
:~ most readily explained by reference co an example; the one discussed
below is for a branded product ex U.S. market.
Smoke
Co~t Icuent
Tar (u~)
Nicotine (mg)
Brand
Deliveries
(per cig)
2.3
0.38
"Critical
Levels"
(per day)
86
Calulatlon
of Cig/Day
86÷2.3 =37
6÷0.38-16
CO (rag)
NO (t~S)
HCN (~g)
Acrolein (t~g)
3.0
50
21
14
46
540
810
260
46 ÷ 3.0 - 14
540 + 50 = II*
810 - 21 - 39
260- 14 - 19
Daily
RatinE
(cig/day)
11
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The ealcu~acion simply involves dividing the appropriate "critical
level" by the maasur~d delivery of the corresponding smoke consc£cuenc,
T~e lowest number obtained £s whac has been termed the Dally Rac£uS. In
c~Lls particular example it ts 11 cigarettes/day and the £accor which
controls this is the delivery of nitric oxide,
Viability of the Concept
IC is important to point ouc that while the philosophy behind the
Corl concept has certain merlcs iC was not ac all well received. ~ndeed,
:tt was the subject of severe public criticism (3, 4), most o£ which
emanated from Gori's colleagues and a£fillates in the NCI, who were afraid
chat their seneral pollcy and anC£-smok£ng e£forcs would be seriously
undermined. Their crlci=Isms tended to be centred upon the assIEnment of
the "crlt£cal levels'" and a sumauary o£ chelr main obJecclons is Eiveu
below.
(a) It was claimed chat many of the assumptions made in the
scaclsclcal analysls used co obcaln ch~ dace were invalid or ac
the very lease quesclonable.
(b) The validity o£ the "crlclcal levels" and the £1Gures for the
number of cigarsctas/day was quescloned since they are based on
• machine smoked cigarettes. As such, ic was argued, they did
not take account of smoking compensation and inhalation and
consequently did not reflect the sNuokers' exposure.
(c) There was enraged concern that consumers would Interpret the
"critical levels" and gigures for the number of cisaretces/day
as safe llmlts which imply no risk. IC was argued Chac while
epldemlologlcsl sCudles may show no scaclsClca~ly siEnlflcant
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Increase in risk ic was misleading in the extreme to equate
this with a zero risk.
~t is not the p~ace of-this report to coment upon these criticisms,
but merely to remark that they are characteristic of those which punctuate
the whole debate on smoking and health. It is of more significance to
w~
comment upon the company's potential use of the concept as a marketing
platform. Essentially this is somewhat limited. Adoption of the
concept withln a markeclng framework tends to infer automatically thac
average consumpclon of s significant proportion o£ the company's brands
worldwide places consumers at risk. LeGal Department in Millbank tended
to concur with ~his general view. ~ndeed, they were unvil~ing to •auction
any overt use of the concept or reference to safe/safer cigarettes wlchin
a marketlnE context. This, however, does not necessarily preclude
ca~tlonad reference to the concept within discussions on smoking and
health, particularly since the publications by Gori (I, 2) highlight two
luportant points. First, Gorl recognises that present day conm~erclal
cigarettes have much lower yields of smoke constituents than pie-1960
ci&aretces. Secondly, there is evidence to support a dose response
relationship between the ~mounts of smoke constituents inhaled and
disease incidence. These points are important since they illustrate the
efforts made by the tobacco industry to overcome the adverse assertions
regarding smoking and health.
4. Design of CtgRrettes to Achieve S?eclflc Daily RatSn~s
The aim of carrying out this work was to assess if there are any
particular problems in producin8 cigarettes to achieve a specific Dnily
Rating, as opposed to the sore normal situation of desiEulng for a target
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