Editorial: Packing a nicotine punch

Sunday, Sept. 3, 2006 | 7:16 a.m.

A new report shows that despite ongoing allegations that they hid known cancer risks from public view, U.S. tobacco companies have been increasing the nicotine content of the most popular cigarette brands.

The report, released Tuesday by the Massachusetts Department of Health, shows that overall nicotine levels in 179 brands tested increased by 10 percent from 1998 to 2004. According to a story by the Associated Press, the three brands most popular among young smokers - Camel, Newport and Marlboro - had the significantly higher levels of nicotine. And Kool, a popular menthol brand, showed a 20 percent nicotine increase. Menthol brands are the cigarettes of choice among two-thirds of black smokers.

These increases seem to support suspicions that the tobacco industry has not only targeted young smokers and minorities with its marketing but also has attempted to increase their addictions to cigarettes.

U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler thrashed tobacco companies in a 1,742-page ruling last month, saying that the industry violated civil racketeering laws by conspiring to hide from the public information about its products' ill health effects.

For 50 years, Kessler wrote, tobacco industry officials "lied, misrepresented and deceived the American public" by suppressing research and destroying documents. "They manipulated the use of nicotine so as to increase and perpetuate addiction," the judge wrote. And, apparently, they continued doing so the entire time they were being prosecuted for such allegations in court.

Kessler, prevented from issuing a financial penalty by a 2005 appeals court decision, ruled that tobacco companies must stop using such misleading terms as "light," "low tar" and "mild" on their product packaging. The Massachusetts study showed virtually no difference in nicotine levels among cigarettes labeled as "light," "full flavor," "ultra-light" and "medium," the AP reports.

Given what is known today about the detrimental health effects of tobacco use, it is amazing that anyone starts smoking. But it is an astonishing show of arrogance and greed that tobacco companies have been diligently and unsuccessfully defending themselves in court while working just as diligently to make cigarettes more addictive.