NZ ‘mild’ cigarette highest in toxins

A New Zealand "extra-mild" cigarette is the most toxic of 36 brands sampled worldwide, a study says.

Ash chairman Dr Murray Laugesen and Jefferson Fowles, of Crown research institute ESR, roamed the internet comparing the toxicity of cigarette smoke emissions for 20 British Columbian, 15 Australian and one New Zealand brand, Holiday Extra-Mild.

They found Canadian brand Export A full-flavour cigarettes were the least toxic and carried a 37 per cent lower cancer risk compared with Holiday Extra-Milds.

The research, published in the New Zealand Medical Journal today, said the difference was largely because of the Canadian brands' higher nicotine emission and correspondingly lower toxicant/nicotine ratio.

Ash (Action on Smoking and Health) has campaigned for regulations to test all cigarettes as a condition of sale in New Zealand, as happens in British Columbia.

It has also raised concerns about promoting cigarettes as "extra-mild" when tests have found they contain higher levels of toxins.

Dr Laugesen said regulations to reduce brand differences in emissions, without using charcoal filters, would reduce total cancer risk by 13 per cent for Holiday Extra-Milds.

That figure could be further improved by using charcoal filters.

The researchers estimated that New Zealand's annual toll of 1700 cigarette cancer deaths could be reduced by 80 through the use of charcoal filters.

British American Tobacco, which manufactures Holiday Extra-Milds, could not be reached for comment.

* The Government pockets about $17 million in taxes from under-age smokers, many of whom have no difficulty buying cigarettes, research shows.

An Otago University report found 36 per cent of underage smokers frequently bought tobacco without problems.

The survey was based on the responses of 3500 students from 82 high schools in 2002.