Have you been delaying the decision to stop smoking cigarettes because you are smoking so-called "light" or "mild" cigarettes - believing you do less harm to yourself (and to those around you) than folks who smoke regular ones?

Well, as I have indicated in other parts of my blog, you may be in for a rude awakening…

- Franc Tausch, PhD, CCHT

Cigarette smokers should not be misled into thinking that ‘light’ and ‘mild’ cigarettes are less harmful to their health, when compared to full strength tobacco products.

The New Zealand Commerce Commission, acting on complaints, has been investigating whether the use of the descriptors ‘light’ and ‘mild’ on cigarettes could be potentially misleading under the Fair Trading Act.

As a result of the investigation the Commission has issued warnings to three major tobacco companies supplying the New Zealand market - British American Tobacco (New Zealand) Limited, Imperial Tobacco Co. of New Zealand Limited and Philip Morris (New Zealand) Limited.

"Our concern with descriptors such as ‘light’ and ‘mild’ is that consumers may believe they are exposing themselves to less harm if they smoke these cigarettes, as compared to regular strength cigarettes," says Commerce Commission Director of Fair Trading Adrian Sparrow. "Whilst technical machine testing of these products might show them to have a lower level of toxicants, our investigations suggest that the impact of human behaviour results in there being little difference between the intake of toxicants from these products and their regular strength counterparts."

"Our investigations reveal a body of evidence to suggest that smokers who use ‘light’ and ‘mild’ tobacco products may compensate in their smoking behaviour, by inhaling more deeply when smoking these products, by using the filters differently or by smoking more cigarettes to receive the same or nearly the same amounts of toxicants as they would obtain through smoking regular strength cigarettes," says Mr Sparrow.

"The bottom line is smoking causes many diseases, including cancer. There is no such thing as a safe, or safer, cigarette. If you smoke ‘light’ or ‘mild’ cigarettes believing these to be less harmful to your health you are probably fooling yourself," says Mr Sparrow.

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