Tobacco Documents Online

ICOSI BACKGROUND BRIEFING PAPERS

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A1 ICOSI BACKGROUND BRIEFING PAPER CLAIM International companies are usinq double standards in the selling of high 'tar' and nicotine cigarettes in developing countries. RESPONSE Consumer preference determines the type of cigarettes sold in any market. For cigarettes, as for food and other commodities, consumers in developing countries have in many casesdifferent tastes from consumers in the Western world. Furthermore, in most developing countries, the per capita consumption of cigarettes is extremely low when compared with Western countries. In some African countries, for example, it is as low as 12 or 13 cigarettes a month and a very high proportion of the cigarettes sold are sold not by the pack but by single units. It is not therefore surprising that in those countries consumers do not appear at present to obtain satisfaction from cigarettes with low yields which are gaining popularity in Europe and North America. The policy of the international companies is to offer the consumer a wide range of brands of varied yields but in all markets account must be taken of consumer preference. In the developing countries this is evidenced by the fact that the cigarettes produ- ced by cottage industries (e.g. Kreteks), which have a higher yield than international company brands, have very considerable success against international company brands. Furthermore, where local national companies are producing machine-made cigarettes, their brands are as high, or higher, in yield as the interna-" tional brands sold in their countries. It is thus totally unjust for the opponents of Smoking to accuse the international tobacco companies of using double standards. Where they sell brands in developing countries which have higher yields than the equivalent brands on their own domestic markets, they are doing so in response to consumer preference. Changes in consumer preference are a slow process. If international companies made rapid reductions in the yields of their brands in developing countries, any remaining higher yield brands would inevitably become the consumer's choice. If all brands in a developing country were heavily reduced in yield in a short time period (which would not be possible in any case in a competitive situation, particularly where local national companies and cottage industries as well as international companies were involved), some

A2 scientific reports h~ve suggested that consumers would most likely adjust their patterns of smoking, for example in terms of inhala- tion and puff frequency. Finally it should be pointed out that in a number of developing countries international companies are gradually reducing the yields of their brands to provide their customers with a wider range of choices, but this move would become impratical and self-defeating if it become out of step with consumer preference. llth May 1979

B1 ICOSI BACKGROUND BRIEFING PAPER CLAIM International cigarette companies do not include warning clauses on cigarette packs or in cigarette advertising in developing countries. RESPONSE In some developing countries cigarette packs do carry a warning clause. In those and in a number of developed countries both packs and advertising carry warning clauses as a result of Government legislation or heavy Government pressure on the tobacco industry. While respecting the right of health officials to offer opinions on matters relating to public health which are of interest to them, the tobacco industry holds and has always held the view that in developed countries, where intensive publicity in all media on smoking and health has ensured that consumers are aware of the issues involved, warning clauses are unnecessary. Furthermore, in developing countries with a multiplicity of language and dialect, warning clauses present almost insuperable difficulties for the industry. llth May 1979

Cl ICOSI BACKGROUND BRIEFING PAPER CLAIM In most developing countries international tobacco companies are opposed to the publication of'ta~ and nicotine tables and decline to reveal the 'tar' and nicotine deliveries of their brands. RESPONSE The publication of 'tar' and nicotine tables has been brought about in a number of developed and some developing countries by legislation or government pressure on the industry. The governments involved primarily consider that these two components are of prime importance in relation to certain deseases which the opponents of smoking have attributed to cigarette smoking. In addition, some governments have introduced official league tables to replace tables already published by independent consumer asso- ciations, the results of which had proved to be suspect and unreliable. 'Tar' is, in fact, a misnomer. Contrary to popular belief, ciSa- rette 'tar' is not something to which human smokers are exposed. 'Tar' more properly describes specific laboratory products obtained from several distinct laboratory procedures. There are a number of ways of defining and measuring 'tar', e.g. 'total particulate matter', 'dry particulate matter', and 'particulate matter, water and nicotine free'. Comparisons between league tab ie results in different countries can be misleading, and possibly invalid, if the definition of 'tar' is not the same in each table. Further, the popular but unscientific notion that the exposure of smokers to various cigarette smoke constituents can be deter- mined by laboratory analyses is untenable. The rate and amount of delivery of various smoke constituents depend upon too many uncontrolled factors which vary considerably among smokers, including, for example, the number, size and frequency of puffs, the depth and degree of inhalation, the length of the butt remaining and even the time of day a person smokes. In contrast, the measurements of 'tar' and nicotine are made from smoke produced by smoking cigarettes mechanically under a set of defined laboratory conditions. If laboratory conditions were standardized they may enable the comparison of two or more products, but they cannot reproduce the way in which the indivi- dual smokes a cigarette.

C2 As to the alleged 'harmful' constituents of cigarette smoke, critics claim that 'tar', nicotine and several other gases are the primary sources of toxicity. In the past, much effort and research has been devoted to understanding tobacco use and health. Yet, in spite of all the research that has been done, no one has ever established that any ingredient or group of ingredients as found in tobacco smoke is harmful to humans. Therefore, the scientific basis for the claim that certain levels of 'tar' and nicotine have health consequences is lacking. The international tobacco companies, therefore, oppose the publication of league tables because they are likely to be very misleading to the consumer in several major ways. The tables might well suggest that levels of certain ingredients in tobacco smoke have proven health significance. The consumer might be misled to believe that he is actually exposed to the published levels of the constituents when indeed there are too many variations in the smoking patterns of humans to draw such a conclusion about an individual's exposure. The problem of use of differing methodology and definitions for determining the levels of these smoke constituents would result in the publica- tion of noncomparable and, consequently, valueless information. llth May 1979

ICOSI BACKGROUND BRIEFING PAPER CLAIM International tobacco companies use in develop.in~ countries advertising methods not considered acceptable in the Western World. RESPONSE There are of course in the Western world restrictions on cigarette advertising related both to the methods or media used and to the content of advertisements. These restrictions were imposed by legislation or acceded to by the tobacco industry under pressure from Governments. While it may be said, as in this accusation, that these restrictions apply to methods unacceptable to the opponents of smoking in the Western world, the rationale behind the imposi- tion of such restraints is not valid in itself - and there is therefore no logical reason why these restraints should also be applied to developing countries. The falsity of the rationale is evidenced by the fact that : i. Studies have concluded that advertising has no significant effect on total cigarette consumption. A recent study carried out in the United Kingdom examined the effects of advertising on cigarette consumption there. The study included data on a quarterly basis over the last 20 years and the results showed that : a) The effects of advertising on cigarette consumption were statistically insignificant regardless of the definition of the advertising variable and of the time period chosen. b) The same as in a) above applied to the effects of Government.anti-smoking advertising. Evidence from other markets also supports these results. The experience of those countries prohibiting cigarette advertising has been that consumption was not reduced or, as in the case of Norway, consumption initially fell but these reductions were strictly temporary. D1

D2 Further examples exist in Eastern Europe and in 3 countries where no advertising at all is permitted, there have been significant increases between 1970 and 1975, despite anti-smoking campaigns. These countries are Poland (increase of 24.5 %), USSR (increase of 15.7 %), and Hungary (increase of 11.4 %). It should also be noted that Hungary and Poland have a larger per capita consumption than West Germany where cigarette advertising is permitted. Advertising does not entice non-smokers to become smokers. Studies indicate that other influences such as peer pressure and the examples of others are far more important factors. In this connection the following statement by K. Waernberg included by the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare in its publication (June 1975) entitled "Ban on Advertising - What Then ?" (Smoking and Health. Vol. II. Health Consequences, Education, Cessation Activities and Governmental Action.) is particularly pertinent. "There is no evidence to support the view that a ban on advertising would have a positive effect on smoking habits. No empirical research has been able to show that aggregate brand advertising leads to greater total ' tobacco consumption. Nor has anything been found to suggest that advertising entices non-smokers, young people in particular, into becoming smokers. It follows, therefore, that there can be no evidence showing that a ban on advertising would result in reduced tobacco consumption and fewer new smokers." The misconceptions behind the rationale for advertising restric- tions are thus evident and it follows that advertising methods are in themselves irrelevant, as is demonstrated by a recent study in the United Kingdom which shows no effect of advertising on total consumption over 20 years despite the severe curtailment of advertising methods over that period in the U.K. What is more relevant is that the tobacco industry adheres to its announced policy of not designing its advertising to encourage smokers to smoke more, to create new smokers or to appeal to children - and this the industry is doing both in the developed and the developing countries. Furthermore it is important that the advertising media in developing countries should continue to be available to the tobacco industry. Only thus can information be given to the smoking public in those countries concerning the availability of products or new product information. llth May 1979

ICOSI BACKGROUND BRIEFING PAPER E1 CLAIM Tobacco ~rowin~ in Third World countries inhibits the production of food crop~. RESPONSE In most Third world countries there is abundant land available and thus its usage for the growing of tobacco in no way inhibits the production of food crops. Since the early 1960's, increased emphasis has been placed on food production in the Third world, particularly in the development of new plant varieties, the use of fertilizers, improved methods of plant protection and hygiene, mechanisation and small-scale irrigation. The tobacco companies' principal contribution to the encouragement of more productive farming has been to demonstrate clearly the benefits of crop rotation systems. Through the application of new agricultural techniques to tobacco and, where appropriate, to rotation food crops, the level of agricultural and related business activity has thus risen faster in tobacco growing than in non tobacco growing areas. As a result of improved land cultivation and the use of residual fertilizer techniques, increased yields in tobacco areas of food crops have been recorded as follows : Chile Bangladesh India (Mysore) Kenya Guatemala Maize Rice Millet 9~eat Beans Jute 30% 30% 250% 100% 20/25% 20/25% 100% 100% Ihcreased yields from the use of fertilizers on tobacco crops have encouraged their use on other crops. A similar transfer of techno- logy has occurred in the use of crop chemicals. Tobacco growing has financed the purchase of sprayers, so giving farmers the means of applying crop chemicals to their other crops. In several Central American countries (e.g. Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua) tobacco is grown under irrigation. The purchase of the pumps and ancillary equipment has been financed by the tobacco companies for tobacco growing and the farmers use the equipment out of season to increase the yield of their rotation crops, the