TUESDAY, July 19, 2005 (HealthDay News) -- "Light" can still be lethal: According to researchers, about 25 percent of smokers share the erroneous belief that so-called reduced-exposure tobacco products -- "light," herbal or reduced-nicotine cigarettes -- are less dangerous than regular cigarettes.
"These data suggest that smokers are confused and misled by cigarette marketing, even when such marketing does not include overt health messages," researchers at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y., wrote in the August issue of the Journal of Preventive Medicine.
According to the Buffalo team, smokers need to understand that reduced-exposure tobacco products pose the same health risks as any other cigarette, even though cigarette makers claim that these products are less of a health threat.
The researchers conducted a telephone survey of more than 2,000 current smokers in the United States and found that 39 percent of the respondents had heard of "less harmful" cigarettes, even though only 27 percent could name a specific brand. Smokers over the age of 55 were most likely to have heard of such products.
"There is no evidence that smokers will switch to these kinds of cigarettes, but one study has shown that viewing an ad for such products caused a near immediate drop in intention to quit smoking," study co-author Richard O'Connor said in a prepared statement.
"We have previous examples of filters and 'lights' both promoted explicitly and implicitly as reducing the health risks of smoking. Most smokers already use them although there is no evidence they really deliver fewer toxins or reduce health risks," O'Connor said.
"Companies looking to market reduced-exposure tobacco products should be required to demonstrate convincingly that smokers will not be confused or misled by the marketing claims," the authors added.
More information
The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about "light" cigarettes.
