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The Dark Side of Light Cigarettes?

September 25, 2006 3:21 PM

Cigarette_light2_nrLight cigarettes can deliver a higher level of toxicity than their regular counterparts, according to a former director of research at Phillip Morris. That allegation is at the center of a legal battle between tobacco companies and light cigarette smokers, who scored a major legal victory today when tens of millions of light cigarette smokers were granted class action status in a lawsuit that could cost tobacco companies hundreds of billions of dollars.

The lawsuit centers around the allegation that tobacco companies have fraudulently marketed light cigarettes as a safer alternative to regular cigarettes, when the companies knew that wasn’t the case.

A former director of applied research for Phillip Morris told ABC News that light cigarettes can actually be more toxic to smokers than regulars. They are a "very nasty trick" according to Bill Farone, the former director of research at Phillip Morris.

"If you’re used to smoking a Marlboro regular and you switch to a light, what you end up doing is simply sucking a little harder," said Farone. "You end up getting about the same amount of tar, the same amount of nicotine."

Farone added that because of the chemical changes that occur during the burning of the cigarette, a light cigarette can actually deliver higher levels of many other cancer-causing materials. "That’s been documented and you can see it in some of the chemistry," he said.

Farone also says that Phillip Morris has known all along that light cigarettes are not a safer alternative to regulars. "There’s no doubt that Phillip Morris knew the properties of its products then and does now."

Phillip Morris and other tobacco companies say they plan to appeal today’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein. The lawsuit, which was filed in 2004, differs from other tobacco litigation in that the plaintiffs are not seeking damages for health problems, but instead claim that they’ve been defrauded by the tobacco companies.

"This case involved smokers who are not seeking to recover for personal injuries, who continue to smoke 'light' cigarettes and who paid no more for Marlboro Lights cigarettes than they would have paid for regular Marlboros," said William S. Ohlemeyer, Phillip Morris’s associate general counsel.

On their website, Phillip Morris acknowledges that some researchers have found smokers inhale just as much tar and nicotine from light cigarettes as they do from regulars. They also add: "The amount of tar and nicotine inhaled will be higher if, for example, a smoker blocks ventilation holes, inhales more deeply, takes more puffs or smokes more cigarettes."

The company also says, however, that they do not claim that light cigarettes are a safer alternative. "PM USA does not imply in our marketing, and smokers should not assume, that lower-yielding brands are safe or safer than full-flavor brands. There is no safe cigarette," says the website.

Tobacco prevention advocates, however, say that the tobacco industry knows that most smokers believe light cigarettes to be safer than regulars.

"Light cigarettes are probably the most serious public health fraud that has ever been perpetrated on the American public," said Matthew Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Myers blames the lack of government regulation of the tobacco industry for allowing cigarette makers to advertise and promote their light cigarettes as 'lights' even though they can be just as dangerous as the regulars.

"The tobacco industry’s products and claims are fundamentally unregulated," he said, "and the industry has successfully resisted regulation for 40 years."

September 25, 2006 | Permalink | User Comments (24)

User Comments

i have smoked for 40 plus years and have lung cancer. the last 10 years i have smoked lights. how do i find out about the class action suits

Posted by: phyllis | Sep 25, 2006 3:40:47 PM

i have smoked for years,,menthol lights,,and my daughter died 5 yrs ago,,she died from cancer by smoking,,lung cancer,,38 yrs old..i would like to have the info on how to start a class action suit also..

Posted by: kathern | Sep 25, 2006 6:36:36 PM

how do i find out about class action suit's..about cigarettes

Posted by: kathern | Sep 25, 2006 6:49:10 PM

I have smoked lights for 20 years and have lung cancer, I want free money as well so I can keep smoking.. it really sucks all these prices keep getting to high, let's sue them more so we can pay for more cigarettes!

Posted by: joe | Sep 25, 2006 7:50:56 PM

I'm sorry, but these class action suits are lame. EVERYONE knows that smoking is bad for your health. I'm a smoker, and choose to be one. But all these people seeking free money because they smoked? I'm a hard working American, and can't believe that so many are allowed to take advantage of the system to earn a couple bucks. Can I sue them because I MIGHT develop lung cancer??

Posted by: Doug | Sep 26, 2006 1:08:07 PM

Smokers beware........ y'all be ready to reach deeper into your pockets for the privilege of sustaining your addiction..... y'all are the someones to pay for the class action law suit.

I quit about a year and a half ago (after about 35+ years of puffing away). Was it difficult?.. Yep.. Was it worth it to quit?... Yep, I'd recommend it to everyone that smokes. The saying: "If at first you don't succeed - try, try again" is most apropos.

Posted by: dreek | Sep 26, 2006 1:41:32 PM

I have smoked for years and I just recently quit smoking. I smoked Marlboro Lights for the last 10 years. How do I get involved in the lawsuit?

Posted by: Richard A Partridge Jr | Sep 26, 2006 5:23:30 PM

Please provide information about joining the class action lawsuit.

Posted by: Michael | Sep 27, 2006 9:01:33 AM

I would like to obatin more information on this class action lawsuit. Can you please help?

Thank you.

Posted by: Bernice | Sep 27, 2006 2:28:35 PM

Wow. I thought that the people who filed the lawsuit were lazy. Turns out there are lazier people who won't even do their own internet search for free money as a result of their OWN actions. Truly part of what's wrong with America today.

Posted by: Doug | Sep 27, 2006 5:04:53 PM

HELL, I AM A SMOKER TOO. I AM TOTALLY ADDICTED AND IF I QUIT I WOULD PROBABLY GO MAD. SO, HOW DO I GET ON THE BANDWAGON. WHAT THE HELL. SUE THEM FOR SELLING THE DAMN THINGS. IF THEY WERE NOT THERE THEN I WOUDL HAVE NO CHOICE THAN TO QUIT. GUES THEY HAVE SOME EXTRA MENTAL WARDS AROUND FOR ME. I HAVE ALWAYS SMOKED LIGHTS, EVEN THE LONGER ONES AT THAT.

Posted by: Mary | Sep 28, 2006 1:49:10 AM

I am a smoker. I lack self discipline and have no sense of personal responsibility. Please put me in contact with a lawyer so that I can make someone else pay for my actions.

Posted by: Jack Jones | Sep 28, 2006 10:07:59 AM

People bring suit against the tobacco companies because smoking is dangerous, when they knew that all along is like sticking your fingers in an electric fen or a garbage disposal and then bring suit against the manufacturer of that equipment.
Yes it may harm you. No one, including the tobacco companies have sugar coated the warnings on every pack of butts for decades.
HAve we finally come to the point where we can sue people over our own stupidity and deliberate decisions to ignore that everything in life has a consequence? Even after being repeatedly warned about them?
My god, I'm living in a vast tribe of monkeys!
So much for the theory of evolution!

Posted by: zach | Sep 29, 2006 6:16:30 PM

Class (lawyer) action suits. Lawyers are the ones making money off of these things, not the consumer. I too have smoked for years (about 48 to be exact). The warnings have been around for a long time and as long as lawyers are around the suits will be with us a long time, preying on the masses. Alcohol carries warnings too, but how many class action suits involve alcohol..the only ones getting rich are the lawyers.

Posted by: greg | Sep 29, 2006 11:41:43 PM

uterally ridiculous! read the label people on each pack. there is a hazardous warning. would you drink gasoline? unbelievable suing a tobacco company for committing slow suicide. only in america. land of the free. freedom and choice! you choose to kill yourself don't sue. people who take drugs kill themselves with OD. Smoking KILLS!

Posted by: Arly | Sep 30, 2006 5:46:45 PM

I recently quit smoking after puffing away for 36 years. I started on Newports and switched to Basic menthol lights.
Love that cool clean springtime-morning feel in the ol' lunger-oos!
All I can say as to how I quit after many unsuccessful attempts is this time I used no crutches i.e. patch, gum, pills etc. Also I did not make a big deal about quitting. I didn't stock up on the surgarless candy, the fruit juice or prayer book.
After what I decided was to be my last cigarette on the last day I was to smoke...that was it! Period!
It has been a month now today and there have been urges now and then; along with a few other side effects. Oddly, irritation was not one of them. Just some sweating the first couple of days, "scattered brain" feeling at times and very mild depression on SOME days. Ya got to figure after 36 years of injesting God-knows-what 500+ chemicals the scumbags put in their cigarettes, your body is going to go through alot of readjusting but it is sooo worth it! I do not look at saving money as being one of the main reasons I quit. Here in South Carolina smokes are really cheap due to low cig taxes!
Good Luck to any and all who attempt to quit! Save yourself for a time later!

Posted by: kurtsie | Oct 1, 2006 7:56:18 PM

Everybody dies and nobody dies healthy.
If they were healthy, they wouldn't have died.
Butts or booze or buff and beautiful, no one gets out alive.
Do your own thing.
And be sure to live, love, laugh and be happy in the process.
That's all any of us are truly entitled to, no matter what parasitic lawyers and politicians (note how one is very often synonomous with the other) may tell you to the contrary.
Some dedicate their lives trying to make a buck without producing a thing from those that do.
"Smoke em' if you got em'" or live without em if you choose.
Then suck it up that the consequences in either case are are yours and yours alone.
In the end, no one passes Go and no one collects the $200 dollars.

Posted by: zach | Oct 5, 2006 8:39:30 PM

I lost my husband at age 54 due to lung cancer from smoking cigarettes. He smoked Marlboro Lights the last couple of years he was alive. He died in 1994 and now I am without an income except for social security. Please tell me how I can join a class action lawsuit. Thanks. Marge

Posted by: Marge | Oct 10, 2006 6:17:51 AM

I smoked marlboro lights for two years, and would like to join the lawsuit.

Posted by: Thamer bejaoui | Oct 20, 2006 8:13:43 PM

i smoke it too. please where and how to join the lawsuit. fraud!

Posted by: jeanne b | Oct 20, 2006 8:16:13 PM

Where on the pack or in the advertisements does it say "lights" are safer? You people that ask how to join a lawsuit because you thought there was a safer way to smoke are utter morons.

Posted by: RUkiddingME | Nov 12, 2006 11:18:46 AM

Been smoking for 64 years starting with full flavor to filters,to lights and than ultra light for the last 20 years leading me to think there was less tar and nicotine and ofcourse saver.I am now more addicted than ever with no hope of giving them up. I now suffer with copd, emphasema, and avacular necrosis. Coughing and choking on a daily basis. I am in need of immediate help and can't find the answers. Someone,..... anyone please HELP!!!!!

Posted by: Eugina | Dec 1, 2006 6:53:04 PM

I have been smoking for 24 years. I was told that i have copd and I'am only 39,i was not a heavy smoker. yes i am tring very hard to quit. i do want to know what my rights are on this matter. please let me know. By the way my dad was a heavy smoker and when i found out from the specialist she said that ive been smoking since i was a baby.

Posted by: joanne | Mar 15, 2007 5:47:06 PM

Prejudice will always be a part of society

Posted by: continent | Sep 24, 2007 9:47:00 PM

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