§ Dr. Stuttafordasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he is now able to make known the tar and nicotine yields of brands of cigarettes on sale in the United Kingdom.
§ Sir K. JosephI have received from the Laboratory of the Government Chemist the tar and nicotine yields which were obtained from samples of 150 cigarettes of each of 101 brands. The packets of cigarettes from which the samples were obtained were purchased from retail outlets in various parts of the country during each of the six months July to December 1972.
The figures which are set out below are rounded averages and the brands are listed in order of tar yield, those with the lowest tar yield being at the top. Where more than one brand have the same figure for tar yield, the brands with that figure are in alphabetical order. Differences between brands of up to 2 mg of tar can generally be ignored.
The level of tar yield is regarded as more important to health than the level of nicotine. Cigarette smoke tar is known to contain substances which can cause 308W cancer and is thought also to be a major factor in causing bronchitis and emphysema. There are good grounds for believing that those smokers who choose to continue smoking are less likely to damage their health if they smoke cigarettes with a low tar yield. Nicotine is known to have an effect on the heart and may help to cause heart disease.
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TAR AND NICOTINE YIELDS OF CIGARETTES Tar yield mg/cig Brand Filter or Plain Nicotine yield mg/cig 4 Silk Cut Extra Mild F Under 0.3 7 Player's Mild De Luxe F Under 0.3 8 Bristol F 0.4 8 Piccadilly Mild F 0.4 8 Player's Mild Milford F Under 0.3 11 Embassy Extra Mild F 0.8 11 Ransom Multifilter F 0.7 11 Rothmans Masters F 0.6 11 Silk Cut King Size F 0.8 12 Player's No. 6 Extra Mild F 0.8 12 Silk Cut F 0.8 12 Silk Cut No. 3 F 0.8 13 Buckingham F 0.8 13 Pall Mall Long Size F 0.8 13 Player's Special Mild F 0.8 13 Player's York Mild F 1.0 14 Consulate Menthol F 0.8 14 St. Moritz F 1.0 15 Craven ' A' Filter F 1.0 15 Everest Menthol F 0.9 15 Kool F 1.0 15 Piccadilly No. 7 F 0.8 15 Rembrandt Filter De Luxe F 0.8 16 Cambridge F 1.0 17 Olivier F 1.0 17 Peter Stuyvesant King Size F 1.0 18 Cadets F 1.1 18 Crown Filter F 1.1 18 Embassy Gold F 1.2 18 Embassy Regal F 1.2 18 Gitanes Caporal Filter F 1.4 18 Piccadilly King Size F 1.1 18 Sovereign F 1.2 18 Three Castles Filter F 1.2 19 Albany F 1.2 19 Cameron F 1.2 19 Dunhill International F 1.4 19 Gold Bond F 1.2 19 Kensitas Club Filter F 1.2 19 Kensitas Corsair F 1.2 19 Kent F 1.2 19 Piccadilly Filter De Luxe F 1.1 19 Rothmans King Size F 1.4 19 Senior Service Extra F 1.2 19 Silva Thins F 1.2 20 Benson & Hedges King Size F 1.4 20 Benson & Hedges Virginia Blue F 1.2 20 Embassy Filter F 1.3 20 Embassy Kings F 1.3 20 Gauloises Disque Bleu F 1.5 20 Guards F 1.3 20 Hallmark F 1.2
Tar yield mg/cig Brand Filter or Plain Nicotine yield mg/cig 20 Louis Rothmans Select F 1.4 20 Marlboro F 1.7 20 Park Drive Special F 1.5 20 Peter Stuyvesant Luxury Length F 1.2 20 Player's No. 6 Filter F 1.2 20 Player's No. 10 F 1.3 20 Senior Service Tipped F 1.3 20 Sobranie Virginia International F 1.3 20 Weights Filter F 1.5 21 Bachelor F 1.5 21 Benson & Hedges Virginia Red F 1.3 21 Kensitas Tipped F 1.4 21 Macdonald's Export ' A' F 1.4 21 Nelson F 1.3 21 Park Drive Tipped F 1.4 21 Player's Gold Leaf F 1.5 21 Slim Kings F 1.4 21 Solent F 1.2 21 Sotheby's F 1.4 21 Sterling F 1.3 21 Woodbine Filter F 1.3 22 Du Maurier F 1.4 22 John Player Special F 1.4 22 Player's No. 6 Kings F 1.4 22 Player's Perfectos F 1.5 23 Player's Filter Virginia F 1.6 23 Richmond Filter F 1.6 24 Player's Mild Navy Cut P 1.6 25 Player's No. 6 Plain P 1.6 26 Gallaher's De Luxe Mild P 1.6 26 Weights Plain P 1.6 27 Craven ' A' Cork Tipped P 1.6 27 Player's Medium Navy Cut P 1.7 27 Woodbine Plain P 1.7 28 Embassy Plain P 1.5 28 Gauloises Caporal Plain P 1.8 28 Park Drive Plain P 1.9 28 Piccadilly No. 1 P 1.6 29 Kensitas Plain P 1.8 31 Churchmans No. 1 P 1.9 31 Gallaher's De Luxe Medium P 2.0 31 Richmond Plain P 2.0 31 Senior Service Plain P 1.9 32 Capstan Medium P 2.0 32 Gold Flake P 2.0 32 Three Castles Plain P 2.0 33 Player's No. 3 P 2.1 34 Passing Clouds P 2.1 38 Capstan Full Strength P 3.2 During the period July to December 1972, 10 new brands were introduced but were not analysed by the Government Chemist as they were not available for the whole of the six months. Estimates by the manufacturers for these brands of cigarettes are as follows:
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Under Under 4 Embassy Ultra Mild F 0.3 12 Benson & Hedges Vogue F 0.8 12 Vogue Satin Tipped F 0.8 14 Kensitas Mild F 0.9 15 John Player Carlton King Size F 1.3
15 John Player Carlton Long Size F 1.2 16 John Player Carlton Premium F 1.3 17 Rothmans International F 1.1 18 H. B. Crown F 1.0 20 Gladstone Filter F 1.5 This information about tar and nicotine yields of cigarettes is to be made available in poster and leaflet form and will be given wide publicity by the Health Education Council and others.
Testing will continue, and I hope to be ready to publish a revised list about the end of the year, and biannually thereafter.
There has in recent years been some reduction in the average tar yield of cigarettes smoked because of the increase in the smoking of filter-tipped cigarettes instead of plain cigarettes and the change by some smokers to brands with a lower tar yield. I hope that the publication of this comprehensive information about the tar yields of brands of cigarettes will cause smokers to consider again the risk they are taking to their health by continuing smoking, but, if they are unwilling to stop the habit, to smoke a brand of cigarette with a tar yield significantly lower than the brand at present smoked.
§ Dr. Stuttafordasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make a statement on the hazards related to the sugar content of tobacco; and if he will compare this hazard with the potential health hazard related to tar content.
§ Sir K. JosephThere has recently been some publicity given to a suggestion that cigarettes made from air-cured tobacco with a low sugar content may be less hazardous to health than those with a high sugar content made from flue-cured tobacco which are generally smoked in this country.
I have given much consideration to this matter and I am satisfied that expert opinion provides no basis for the Government to recommend to those who must smoke to choose cigarettes made from air-cured tobacco with a low sugar content in preference to cigarettes made from flue-cured tobacco.
The Government, in deciding to go ahead with plans to publish the tar and 311W nicotine yields of cigarettes have done so because they are advised that if people are unable to give up smoking there are scientific grounds for believing that it would be somewhat less dangerous to health to smoke cigarettes with a lower tar yield.