Tobacco Documents Online

a. mandates disclosure of tobacco additives which is a first step in the assessment of health risk. it will also focus consumer attention on the presence of additives in tobacco products.

TESTIMONY BEFORE THE UNITED STATES SENATE.LABOR AND HUMANi RESOURCES COMMITTEE ON:. Tobacco Additives by John H',. HoLbrook., M.D. March 16, 1982 The Surgeon General's 1981 Report, The Changing Cigarette, focused attention on.the dramatic increase in consumption of lower "tar"' and nicotine cigarettes, which currently account for approximately 50% of the United States Market. The reduction ih "'tar" and nicotine has been achieved by changes in cultivating and processing of tobacco and in the manufacturing of cigarettes. In this process different classes of substances may be used including: flavoring agents, binders, humectants, tobacco~extenders, burn-rate accelerators and retardants, artificial tobacco substitutes, fertilizers, and agricultural chemicals. In.the 1981 Reporl~ Dr. Julius Richmond expressed,concern about the lower "tar" and nicotine cigarettes: "A final question is unresolved, whether the new cigarettes being prodviced `today introduce new risks through their desig,n,-fiZtering mechanisms; tobacco

References 1. U.S. Dep,artment of Health and Human Services.. The Health Consequences of Smoking - The Changing Cigarette. DHHS. Publication No.. QPHS} 8!1-50156, 198'1. 2. Leffingwell JC ett al: Tobacco Flavoring for Smoking Products. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Cocnpany, winston-Salem, North.Carolina, 1972. 3. Hunter Report:: Developments in Tobacco Products and the Possibility of''"Lower-Risk"'Cigarettes. Stationary Office, London, 1979., Her Majesty's 4. Federal.Trade Commission Staff Report on.the Cigarette Advertising Investigation, G7ashington,. D.C., 1981. 0 . ~ Qa . N W W Ab ~ .

2. ingredients:, or additives. The chief concern is additives. The Public Health.Service hass been unable to assess the relative risks of cigarette additives because information was,not available from manufacturers as to what these additives are".1 In the highly-competitive world of cigarette marketing, flavor additives appear to have been.used!increasingly to stimuLate„consumer acceptance of a.product containing reduced amounts of tobacco. These additives are not regulated by any agency of the federal government, and public disclosure of substances currently in use is not required. To my knowledge this is a unique legal loophole, i.e. other industries whose products are.taken into the body are regulated and manufacturers are heldresponsibie.for the effectsof their product. It.should be emphasized that the cigarette is a d'elivery vehicle.which quickly dispenses thousands of tobacco smoke constituents throughout the body. The evidence concerning the harmful effects of cigarette smoke.is compelling, e.g. toxicity, carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, and possibly teratogenicity. What additional effects tobacco additives may exert is not known. Their presence in tobacco products representsan unmeasured risk for the active smoker, the,involuntary"smoker, an!~ the unborn child.. ~ ~. . 1!+

There are cogent reasons to anticipate adverse interactions between tobacco additives and other smoke constituents. For example, smoker-s who~are exposed to certain medications, e.g. oral contraceptives, and'n to-certain workplace substances, e.g. _ asbestos, face greatly increased health risks, compared to both nonsmokers and smokers who are free from such exposure. The R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company published a booklet in 1972 listing several hundred chemical substances or natural products "used in the compounding of tobacco flavors". The classes included organic acids, amino acids, alcohols, aldehydes, acetals, amid'es, amines., anhydrides, esters, ethers.,. pyrones, imides, ketones, lactones, phenols, pyridines., ' quinolones, indoles., pyrazines, pyrroles, sulfur compounds, herbs, essential oils, andlextracts. The Hunter Committee's Second Report listed a few hundred'substances approved'for use as tobacco additives in the Uiiited!Ringdom. Unfortunately, these lists do not provide specific information on the types and amounts of substances actually being added to tobacco prod'mcts., A recently released report of the Federal Trade Commission © ,; concluded: "This evidence suggests that many smokers falsely ~' believe that smoking is not daggerous to them if they smoke W low-'tar" and lvw.-nicotine cigarettes."2 I applaud and support W '4 2V the Comprehensive Smoking Prevention Education Act,of 1981. It,