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USA: New studies on menthol and polonium-210 show need for regulation of tobacco products

Two new studies published in the American Journal of Public Health demonstrate the critical need for Congress to enact pending legislation granting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory authority over tobacco products. One study found that tobacco companies manipulate levels of menthol in cigarettes to recruit new, young smokers. The second study found that tobacco companies, because of public relations and litigation concerns, suppressed their own internal research about the presence of polonium-210, a radioactive, cancer-causing chemical, in cigarettes and cigarette smoke.

These studies demonstrate how the current lack of regulation allows tobacco companies to manipulate their products in ways harmful to health and to control what is in their products and what they disclose about them. Currently, no government agency has the authority to regulate menthol, polonium-210 or any of the more than 4,000 chemicals in a cigarette. The legislation before Congress would fundamentally change this harmful status quo by granting the FDA authority over the manufacturing and marketing of tobacco products.

Under this legislation, the FDA would gain critical authority to curtail the tobacco industry's harmful practices.

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic and Stanford University, found that tobacco companies suppressed publication of their own internal research about the presence and potential health effects of radioactive, cancer-causing polonium-210 in cigarettes and cigarette smoke. Based on a review of internal tobacco industry documents, the study found that for 40 years tobacco companies have been concerned about the public relations and litigation problems posed by polonium-210 in cigarettes and sought to avoid public attention of the issue for fear of "waking a sleeping giant," as one Philip Morris document put it.

The study found that tobacco companies continue to minimize its polonium-210's importance in smoking and health litigation and remain silent on the issue on their web sites and in their messages to consumers.

Citing prior research, the study states, "It is estimated that smokers of 1.5 packs of cigarettes a day are exposed to as much radiation as they would receive from 300 chest x-rays.

March 2007 polling conducted for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids found that 92 percent of teens and 91 percent of adults did not know that polonium-210 was found in cigarettes and cigarette smoke. When presented with a list of chemicals in cigarette smoke and asked to choose which they feared most, 30 percent of teens and 29 percent of adults chose polonium-210, more than any other chemical.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, 16th July 2008
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