FTC seeks to withdraw 42-year-old cigarette decision

Attn: News desks

     The Federal Trade Commission voted on July 8 to start a regulatory procedure that seeks to withdraw a 42-year-old guidance that allows cigarette companies to claim that they use an FTC-approved method for measuring tar and nicotine content.

     Two anti-tobacco advocacy organizations, the Legacy Foundation and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, greeted the FTC’s action with enthusiasm.

     For decades, manufacturers have used the “Cambridge Filter Method” to measure the tar and nicotine content of their cigarettes. The test uses a machine that “smokes” cigarettes according to a standard protocol.

     In 1966, when the FTC’s guidance was issued, most public health officials believed that reducing the amount of “tar” produced by a cigarette could reduce smokers’ risk of lung cancer; and, that giving uniform, standardized information to consumers would help them make informed decisions about the cigarettes they smoked.

     That perception of the 1966 guidance has changed, the FTC said. “Today, however, the scientific consensus is that machine-based measurements of tar and nicotine yields based on the Cambridge Filter Method do not provide meaningful information on the amounts of tar and nicotine smokers receive from cigarettes or on the relative amounts of tar and nicotine they are likely to receive from smoking different brands of cigarettes.”

     A Federal Register notice, announcing a 30-day period for public comments, will be published in the next few days.

     If the proposed rulemaking is approved, any references to an “FTC-approved” testing method will not be allowed to appear on cigarette packages or in any advertising or promotional materials. It does not prevent cigarette manufacturers from making statements about the tar and nicotine content of their products, but merely prevents them from stating their measurements are made in accordance with the FTC’s 1966 guidance.

     “The tobacco companies have used the test and the claim of FTC endorsement to successfully market and sell so-called ‘light’ and ‘low-tar’ cigarettes to millions of smokers under the pretense that they are less dangerous when, in fact, they have known for years that these products are no safer than traditional cigarettes. The fraudulent marketing of ‘light’ cigarettes was one of the key elements of the U.S. District Court’s decision that the tobacco companies had violated federal racketeering laws,” the Legacy Foundation said.

     The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids said the FTC’s proposed withdrawal of its 1966 guidance “will not by itself end the tobacco industry’s deceptive marketing of ‘light’ and ‘low-tar’ cigarettes, and underscores the need for Congress to take comprehensive action by enacting pending legislation to grant the U.S. Food & Drug Administration regulatory authority over tobacco products.”

–EZ