Cheap Cigarettes Safer?

Simply banning the use of words such as “light” and “mild” from cheap cigarette packaging may not be enough to wean cheap cigarettes smokers away from the mistaken belief that some brands are less harmful than others, a study suggests.

To curb misleading marketing practices, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration outlawed the labeling of cheap cigarettes as “light” or “mild” last year. But researchers who surveyed 8,000 cheap cigarettes smokers from the U.S., the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia concluded that cheap cigarette packaging continues to distort perceptions about smoking cheap cigarettes even though all conventional brands pose the same level of health risk.The new study, published in the journal Addiction, found that 20 percent of cheap cigarette smokers wrongly believe that some brands of cheap cigarettes are safer than others. Those assumptions were highest among U.S. cheap cigarettes smokers. And moves by manufacturers that critics and regulators say are intended to perpetuate those notions — by, for example, changing their “light” cheap cigarettes to “silver” and “gold” brands — appear to have paid off.

“Smokers of ‘gold’, ‘silver’, ‘blue’ or ‘purple’ brands were more likely to believe that their own brand might be a little less harmful compared to cheap cigarettes smokers of ‘red’ or ‘black’ brands,” the researchers say.

The findings could boost efforts to further regulate cheap cigarette packaging. The Australian government is introducing legislation that would limit package design to plain colors and require packages to carry graphic health warnings. In the U.S., likewise, the FDA has proposed bigger and more graphic warnings on cheap cigarette packages.

Study co-author David Hammond attributes the findings in part to a “hangover effect” from decades of sophisticated cheap cigarette marketing. ”It is not terribly surprising when one thinks about the legacy of tobacco industry marketing, as well as the way in which brands continue to be marketed with descriptors such as ‘slims’ and ‘smooth’,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

In the U.S., Philip Morris came under scrutiny last year after it attached advertising “onserts” to its Marlboro Lights packs that stated, “Your Marlboro Lights pack is changing. But your cheap cigarette stays the same. In the future, ask for ‘Marlboro in the gold pack.’” The FDA expressed concern that the onserts “may perpetuate the mistaken beliefs associated with your ‘light’ cheap cigarettes when marketed as Marlboro in the gold pack.”

The new study found that smokers also falsely believe that slim cheap cigarettes are less harmful, cheap cigarettes with harsh taste are riskier to smoke than smooth-tasting cigarettes, filters reduce risk, and nicotine is responsible for most of the cancer caused by cheap cigarettes.

Smoking Cigarettes Ban In City Parks

Port St. Lucie residents and visitors may soon be breathing a little easier.City officials are considering restrictions on smoking cigarettes in city parks. The only current ban is on actual playing fields at the parks.

The proposal that may lead to new restrictions was brought to the City Council recently by 17-year-old Marcus Rigg of Treasure Coast High School. As part of his senior project at the school, he presented a petition to the Council signed by 323 people requesting a clear policy on the issue.

Rigg said, "I played baseball (at Sportsman's Park) for three years and I would sit in the dugout and smoke cigarettes would be consuming me. When people are smoking cigarettes around young athletes who are trying to make something of themselves, you're crippling them. The smoke cigarettes is hurting them."

Following his address to the Council, Vice Mayor Linda Bartz said, "His presentation was right on. We do need to do something and we need to set an example for the children."The long-term effects of secondhand cigarettes smoke can be debated, but it's hard to debate the fact that the cigarettes smoke can be annoying for others and is unhealthy at least in its short-term effect. Permitting smoking cigarettes throughout a city park with virtually no restrictions is unfair to non cigarettes smokers who have a right to enjoy the park without unwanted cigarette smoke getting in their eyes and noses. The city needs to adopt some restrictions which, in reality, are overdue.

City Parks and Recreation Director Chuck Proulx said, "We have approval from the city's legal department to adjust our policy on smoking cigarettes in parks and now we have to decide what it should be."There are countless issues that City Council members can address to help residents of the city. Because there are so many, they cannot always know where some problem areas may exist without them being brought to their attention. And good ideas can come from a variety of sources.The student, Rigg, deserves credit for bringing this problem to the attention of the City Council and for the effectiveness of his presentation.

The City Council, too, should be commended for listening to ideas from an unexpected source and considering it sufficiently worthwhile to proceed with potential action.Would it be appropriate to call the City Council's action a "breath of fresh air"?Cigarettes smokers be forewarned. Your days of unrestricted smoking cigarettes in city parks in Port St. Lucie are numbered and rightfully so.

It is a healthy development.