Tobacco Firms Adding Caramelised Sweeteners to Hook Kids

[Nonphixion]

Tobacco firms 'sweetening cigarettes to hook the young'

Plum juice, maple syrup and honey added to appeal to adolescent smokers
By Roger Dobson
Published: 01 October 2006

Tobacco manufacturers are adding sugar and sweeteners in an effort to make cigarettes smoother - in what is being branded a cynical attempt to lure young smokers and turn them into addicts.

New research, published in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology, reveals that some cigarette firms are using additives such as plum juice, maple syrup and honey to make their products taste better.

But, according to scientists, the sweeteners increase the smokers' risk of cancer.

The study looked at sweet additives put into cigarettes by five big tobacco firms - British American Tobacco, Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company, Gallaher, and Japan Tobacco International. The details come from the firms' websites.

The researchers say the firms do this because "the addition of sugars in tobacco can enhance tobacco use in at least two ways - neutralisation of the harsh taste of cigarette smoke and generation of acetaldehyde, which increases the addictive effect of nicotine... Moreover, the sweet taste and the agreeable smell of caramelised sugar flavours are appreciated in particular by starting adolescent smokers."

According to the report, the amount of sugar found naturally in tobacco varies. It depends on how the tobacco is cured, or dried. Boosting sugar levels, say the researchers, makes the smoke more poisonous.

Deborah Arnott, director of Action on Smoking and Health, said: "We have great concerns about the number of additives and ingredients added to cigarettes trying to make them more palatable." She added that the additives were a cynical attempt by the tobacco companies to replace the customers they kill each year.

Chris Proctor, head of Science and Regulation at British American Tobacco, confirmed that tobacco companies add sugar but denied this encourages young people to smoke. "The style of cigarettes sold in the UK are overwhelmingly Virginia-style. They typically do not have sugar added. Yet there seems to be no difference between these style of cigarettes and the American-blended cigarettes sold in most parts of Europe, which typically have added sugar, in terms of health risks, numbers of young people smoking and quitting rates."

HOW IT WORKS

Marlboro Red King Size cigarettes, from Philip Morris, one of the five firms in the study, contain sweeteners including cocoa, carob bean and liquorice gum.

The taste of cocoa and liquorice, critics claim, is used to make cigarettes more appealing to children. They also dilate the airways, allowing the smoke a deeper passage into the lungs. Sweet additives mask the smell of smoke.

Independent Online Edition > Health Medical

[Stylerod]

Ok, so making cigarettes smell and taste better only affects children? Or do adults like it as well? I can't beleive a company would try to make their product more appealing to their customers!!! **GASP**

You know, I could give a shit what they put in cigs. Smoking is bad for you. EVERYONE knows that. I don't smoke, never have, I think it smells like ass. But as long as cigarettes are legal attention needs to go less to cigarette companies and more to the people that complain about it (mostly Democrats) but do nothing to make it illegal.

[Diesel66]

so what ? You guys want pot legalized but want to ban tobacco ?



Flavored tobacco isnt new, companies around the world have sold it. Both for hookah smoking and gutka.

[IminWonderland]

Sugar AND Nicotine!

That's a winning combination!

It's almost like, Frosting Flavored Heroin!

[SpicyMcVoodoo]

Why has no body brought up the possibility this could be an effort to target certain races?

[IminWonderland]

Originally Posted by SpicyMcVoodoo

Why has no body brought up the possibility this could be an effort to target certain races?

Is there a race that likes licorice flavoring, honey flavoring, or sugar in general more than others?

[ballz2wallz]

Originally Posted by Stylerod

Ok, so making cigarettes smell and taste better only affects children?

That's what I was wondering. They added menthol that tastes like mint (I personally think it tastes nasty) but why is it only kids they are targeting by adding good flavors?

[SpicyMcVoodoo]

Originally Posted by IminWonderland

Is there a race that likes licorice flavoring, honey flavoring, or sugar in general more than others?

I saw an interview with Magic Johnson and he was talking about his movie theatres that target blacks. He mentioned adding more fruit flavors to the drinks to appeal to that demographic.

[SpicyMcVoodoo]

This is totally an effort to target blacks.

Black and Mild - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Black and Mild is a pipe tobacco cigar brand, produced by John Middleton, Inc., a tobacco company in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.

they are the preferred cigar of African-Americans at 56%

Middleton Cigars who produce Black and Mild also provide numerous different flavors, including Black and Mild Mild, Black and Mild Cherry, Black and Mild Apple, and Gold and Mild.

[6SpeedTA95]

They're trying to appeal to their customers

[IminWonderland]

I like the Black and Mild's taste...and Djarum's...and flavored tobacco.

I smoke on occassion, so I don't really "care". I've never, EVER gotten hooked on tobacco...so I don't know what that is all about...

Sounds to me like another addiction in our society...

But this addition is nothing new.

[Scrum]

Originally Posted by 6SpeedTA95

They're trying to appeal to their customers

The horror.


They should have done a survey to find out what their customers like and done the opposite.

[6SpeedTA95]

Originally Posted by Scrumtralecent

The horror.


They should have done a survey to find out what their customers like and done the opposite.

[MoTaVa]

An interesting and quite accurate definition of the word cigarette.
"...a delivery system for toxic chemicals and carcinogens."

Tobacco companies have manipulated sugar levels in their tobacco products for decades. What they know that most people dont is that by varying the levels of sugar and introducing different sugars at different stages in the manufacturing process directly effects the levels of nicotine and other chemicals in the product. If you are an evil chemical scientist bent on the destruction of all mankind, Philip Morris has an opening for you on their team.

Here's a list of the 599 compounds and chemicals in a cigarette.

The List of Additives in Cigarettes

[6SpeedTA95]

Originally Posted by MoTaVa

An interesting and quite accurate definition of the word cigarette.
"...a delivery system for toxic chemicals and carcinogens."

Tobacco companies have manipulated sugar levels in their tobacco products for decades. What they know that most people dont is that by varying the levels of sugar and introducing different sugars at different stages in the manufacturing process directly effects the levels of nicotine and other chemicals in the product. If you are an evil chemical scientist bent on the destruction of all mankind, Philip Morris has an opening for you on their team.

Here's a list of the 599 compounds and chemicals in a cigarette.

The List of Additives in Cigarettes

Welcome to the board

[MoTaVa]

Thanks.

[Diesel66]

Originally Posted by MoTaVa

An interesting and quite accurate definition of the word cigarette.
"...a delivery system for toxic chemicals and carcinogens."

and every adult should have the right to use them.

[MoTaVa]

Sure....why not. We should all have to pay higher taxes and health care premiums to help cover the costs for all those enphazima and heart disease patients when their money runs out, because 80 percent of the time it does. Oh hell ya. I dont need money anyway.
I like seeing butts all in the sand at my beach. Plus, there is nothing cooler than counting the butts that are piled up in the road at the stop light where you smokers dump them while waiting. Or the beautiful cloud of poison stink gas hoovering elegantly in the doorway to every public place I go.
The problem with smokers is the level of militancy that nicotine addiction gives them. Talking to them is like trying to dance with a dope sick junkie. How many times do you have to tell someone that a thing WILL kill them. Bizaar.

[Scrum]

Originally Posted by MoTaVa

Sure....why not. We should all have to pay higher taxes and health care premiums to help cover the costs for all those enphazima and heart disease patients when their money runs out, because 80 percent of the time it does. Oh hell ya. I dont need money anyway.
I like seeing butts all in the sand at my beach. Plus, there is nothing cooler than counting the butts that are piled up in the road at the stop light where you smokers dump them while waiting. Or the beautiful cloud of poison stink gas hoovering elegantly in the doorway to every public place I go.
The problem with smokers is the level of militancy that nicotine addiction gives them. Talking to them is like trying to dance with a dope sick junkie. How many times do you have to tell someone that a thing WILL kill them. Bizaar.

Every single thing you have listed is something you can change.

don't like smoke in public places? Let the owners know. Don't like the higher insurance premium? Find another company or better yet, save your money and pay out of pocket. Don't like the butts in the sand? I don't like cheeseburger wrappers that litter the streets either. Lets combat litter.

If we start banning everything that people don't like or is dangerous to our health, humans wouldn't exist.

It's called life, get a helmet and move on.

[MoTaVa]

You cant smoke in public places, at least not around here, thats why theres a poison stink cloud outside every door. The addicts hoover around entry ways and puff like there about to be arrested. They wont smoke alone though, because misery loves company. Then they walk inside exhaling their last smokey breath like some kind of rebelious kid making a statement. Then as they proudly stroll past coughing up a hunk of dead lung tissue we get to smell that sickeningly sweet aroma. A heinous mixture of crappy purfume and an overloaded ashtray. mmmm...yum.

If you are caught throwing that cheeseburger wrapper down you will be fined $500 for littering....I have yet to see an addict fined for his poison butts.

And we pretty much do ban everthing thats dangerous to our health, thats why humans DO exsist. But when it comes to cigs, the people in positions to ban them are themselves addicts. So, nothing gets done.