"Reducing" tar levels

This article is part of the Tobacco portal on Sourcewatch funded from 2006 - 2009 by the American Legacy Foundation.

This telex from the Philip Morris (PM) document collection reveals how PM "cooperated" with the European Economic Community's (EEC) mandate to reduce tar levels in cigarettes--without actually reducing tar levels at all. Instead, they offered to standardize the procedures used among 23 European countries to test for tar levels. It took them three years to do this, but by doing so, they and managed to develop a new testing procedure that reported lower tar levels in their products by 1 milligram--without any real change in the product itself. As the author states, "The 3 year effort resulted in a new method (now known as the 'New Iso') which reduces the smoke delivery results by about 1 mg at the 16 mg level. The Marlboro sold in the EEC was initially delivering about 15.5 mg, prior to any analytical methodology change. When the new system was implemented, the deliveries were around 14.5 mg, but remember, no product change ever took place."

Key quotes

... [L]et me explain the tar reduction action taken for Marlboro (16 to 14), and in fact, all brands sold in the EEC. You already know about the EEC mandate to reduce all deliveries to 15 mg. As we knew this was going to happen as early as 1988, we began to develop a strategy with which to react. The strategy centered around the fact that there existed a number of different testing procedures around the world and it seemed prudent on our part to harmonize them. Speerheaded [sic] by PM Europe, we put together a team represented by 23 different markets (countries) and began the task of standardization. The 3 year effort resulted in a new method (now known as the "New Iso") which reduces the smoke delivery results by about 1 mg at the 16 mg level. The Marlboro sold in the EEC was initially delivering about 15.5 mg, prior to any analytical methodology change. When the new system was implemented, the deliveries were around 14.5 mg, but remember, no product change ever took place.

Title Marlboro Product Quality in the EEX/Tar Reduction
Per. Author Manuel "Manny" C. Bourlas, Philip Morris
Date 19930419 (April 19, 1993)
Type Telex/email
Bates No. 2500055616
Master Bates No. 2500055607/5714
Collection Philip Morris
Pages 1
URL: http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/gvi19e00

Related resources

• SA Bialous, D Yach Whose Standard Is It, Anyway? How the tobacco industry determines the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Standards for Tobacco Products Tobacco Control, December, 2001, Bates No. 2085523867/3876