LETTER TO CHAIRMAN STAGGERS FROM THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION RELATING TO SMALL CIGARS Hon. HARLEY O. STAGGERS, FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION, Chairman, Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Recently the Federal Trade Commission tested 25 varieties of domestic small cigars for "tar" and nicotine content and transmitted those test results to Jesse L. Steinfeld, M.D., Surgeon General of the Public Health Service. Because of the interest of your Committee in matters related to the promotion and sale of tobacco products, I am enclosing copies of the tests results, a news release about these results which the Comnission intends to issue in the near future, and my letter to the Surgeon General. As you can see from that letter, the test results vere obtained in the Commission's cigarette testing laboratory by analyzing small cigars for "tar" and nicotine content using the Federal Trade Commission methodology for testing cigarettes.* Because of the limited availability of specific brands of small cigars, the est samples were collected from stocks available in the cities of Washington, D.C. and New York, New York, at the time of sampling. The sample therefore represents each product at a single point of urchase, rather than on a nationwide sampling basis, as in the case f cigarettes sampled for official Federal Trade Commission testing. The Commission is aware of at least one small cigar variety which rdinarily is sold in Washington and New York, but which was not ested because it could not be purchased at the time the sample was ollected. In transmitting the attached report of "tar" and nicotine values btained by analyzing the smoke from small cigars, the Commission raws no conclusions as to the relative hazard, or lack thereof, among he various brands listed or between small cigars and cigarettes. The uantitative test method used by the Commission is intended only o provide information on the amount of "tar" and nicotine produced y different brands of small cigars when smoked under standardized onditions. Similarly, the Commission takes no position at the present time as o whether "small cigars" should be included within the definition of cigarettes" for purposes of taxation and the prohibition of broadcast garette advertising. Rather, the Commission believes that before hese determinations are made, additional evidence should be obtained a the question of whether, in actual use by consumers, "small cigars" re inhaled in the same manner as cigarettes. The testing methodology used by the Federal Trade Commission is the Cambridge Filter method cified in the Federal Register notice of November 4, 1966 (31 F. R. 14278), as described in an article entitled Determination of Particulate Matter and Alkaloids (as Nicotine) in Cigarette Smoke," by C. L. Ogg. urnal of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists, Vol. 47, No. 2, 1964, and as modified by the deral Trade Commission in accoradnce with the Federal Register notice of August 1, 1967 (36 F. R. 11178). For these reasons, the Commission has sent copies of the test results to the Surgeon General, and has requested any evaluation which the Public Health Service may be able to make about the consequences to human health that may result from the consumption of small cigars. By direction of the Commission. MILES W. KIRKPATRICK, Chairman. REPORT OF "TAR" AND NICOTINE CONTENT OF THE SMOKE OF 25 VARIETIES OF SMALL CIGARS The Federal Trade Commission's laboratory has determined the "tar" (dry particulate matter) and total alkaloid (reported as nicotine) content of 25 varieties of small cigars. The laboratory utilized the Cambridge filter method specified in the Federal Register notice of November 4, 1966 (31 F. R. 14278), as described in an article entitled "Determination of Particulate Matter and Alkaloids (as Nicotine) in Cigarette Smoke", by C. L. Ogg, Journal of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists, Vol. 47, No. 2, 1964, and as modified by the Federal Trade Commission in accordance with the Federal Register notice of August 1, 1967 (32 F. R. 11178). Samples used in this test were purchased in Washington, D.C. and New York, New York, during February of 1972. Results are based on a test of not less than 90 small cigars of each variety. The "tar" content is report to the nearest 1/10th. milligram and the nicotine content to the nearest 1/100th. milligram, each with appropriate statistical values. The average weight is reported in grams per small cigar and the butt length range to the nearest 1/10th. millimeter. [Definitions for symbols are as follows: F-filter; NF-nonfilter; M-menthol; C-cherry; HP-hard pack; HWP-hard wide pack; SP-soft pack) [Federal Trade Commission News] FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION RELEASES TEST RESULTS FOR SMALL CIGARS Results of tests for tar and nicotine content of 25 varieties of domestic small cigars were announced by the Federal Trade Commission today. The test results were sent to the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service for any evaluation or conclusions which that agency may be able to draw from the data about the consequences to human health which may result from consumption of small cigars. Copies of the test results were also sent to the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce and to the Chairman of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce of the House of Representatives. Although the Commission has been testing domestic cigarettes for tar and nicotine content since 1967, this is the first Commission test of "small cigars"-tobacco products categorized by the Internal Revenue Service as cigars weighing not more than three pounds per thousand. In releasing these test results. the Commission draws no conclusions as to the relative hazard, or lack thereof, among the various brands isted or between small cigars and cigarettes. The quantitative test method used by the Commission is intended only to provide informaion on the amount of tar and nicotine produced by different brands of small cigars when smoked under standardized conditions. Similarly, the Commission takes no position at the present time as to whether "small cigars" should be included within the definition of 'cigarettes" for purposes of taxation and the prohibition of broadcast. -igarette advertising. Rather, the Commission believes that before hese determinations are made, additional evidence should be obained on the question of whether, in actual use by consumers, "small igars" are inhaled in the same manner as cigarettes. Because of the limited availability of specific brands of small igars, the test samples were collected from stocks available in the ities of Washington, D.C., and New York, New York, at the time of ampling, rather than on the nation-wide sampling basis used for the Commission cigarette testing program. The Commission is aware of at east one samll cigar variety which ordinarily is sold in Washington nd New York, but which was not tested because it could not be urchased at the time the sample was collected. The tests were conducted using the Commission's methodology for esting cigarettes for tar and nicotine content. Tar content of the arieties tested ranged from 16.5 milligrams to 47.8 milligrams, and icotine content ranged from 0.52 milligrams to 3.11 milligrams. Details of the test results may be obtained from the Legal and ublic Records Division, Federal Trade Commission, Washington, .C. 20580. EXCERPT FROM FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION, REPORT TO CONGRESS PURSUANT TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH CIGARETTE SMOKING ACT, DECEMBER 31, 1972 During 1972, R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company utilized broadcast advertising in several market areas throughout the United States to promote a tobacco product called Winchester cigars. Section 6 prohibits only broadcast advertising of "cigarettes," and Section 3 of the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act defines the term "cigarette" as follows: "As used in this Act "(1) The term 'cigarette' means "(A) any roll of tobacco wrapped in paper or in any substance not containing tobacco, and "(B) any roll of tobacco wrapped in any substance containing tobacco which, because of its appearance, the type of tobacco used in the filler, or its packaging and labeling, is likely to be offered to, or purchased by, consumers as a cigarette described in subparagraph (A)." The same language is used to define the term "cigarette" for purposes of taxation at 26 U.S. Code Section 5702. Winchester cigars are the same size as king size cigarettes (85. millimeters long), have filter tips, and are sold in packages of 20. However, the wrapper is made from reconstituted tobacco rather than paper and is brown in color;* the tobacco in the inner roll resembles. that used in cigars rather than cigarettes; and the packaging identifies the product as a cigar and not a cigarette. Winchester and about 25 other varieties of similar products are taxed as cigars rather than cigarettes by the Treasury Department. In 1971, a group called Action on Smoking and Health petitioned the Department of Justice, which has responsibility for enforcement of the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act, to enjoin broadcast advertisements for Winchester and to initiate a criminal prosecution against R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company for violating Section 6 of the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act. In January of 1972, the Department of Justice announced that it had accepted an agreement from R. J. Reynolds which affected some aspects of the marketing of Winchester, but did not prohibit broadcast advertising of the product. (See Wall Street Journal, January 19, 1972, page 36.) The Commission is not aware of any other legal actions concerning enforcement of the prohibition of broadcast cigarette advertising during 1972. On July 3, 1972, the Federal Trade Commission announced results of tests for tar and nicotine content of 25 varieties of domestic small cigars, including Winchester. The Commission sent test results to the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service for any evaluation or conclusions which that agency might be able to draw from the data about the consequences to health which may result from the use of these products. *An additional element of confusion was introduced in 1972, when Liggett & Myers Incorporated test marketed Adam, a cigarette with a brown paper wrapper. In releasing the test results, the Commission stated the desire to obtain evidence on the question of whether consumers inhale the smoke from small cigars in the same manner as from cigarettes. The Commission expressed its opinion that such evidence about the use of small cigars by consumers was needed in order to make a judgement about whether small cigars should be included within the definition of "cigarettes" for purposes of taxation and the prohibition of broadcast cigarette advertising. The test results and a copy of the Commission's news release are reproduced at Appendix B.* On December 14, 1972, Action on Smoking and Health petitioned the Federal Trade Commission to begin a proceeding against R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company for violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act in the advertising and promotion of Winchester small cigars. The petitioners alleged that most persons who use Winchester small cigars inhale the smoke from that product in the same manner as smoke from cigarettes, and for that reason, petitioners argue that Winchester small cigars present the same danger to human health as cigarettes. Petitioners claimed that the failure to include any warning in Winchester packaging or advertising about dangers to health posed by the use of this product is unfair and deceptive, and requested the Commission to take action to require a health warning on Winchester packaging and in all Winchester advertising. Petitioners also sought to require disclosure of Winchester's tar and nicotine content in all advertising for that product. The Commission has taken this petition under consideration, but at the time of this writing had not announced its disposition of the matter. During 1972, the Commission's cigarette testing laboraory completed two tests of domestic cigarettes for tar and nicotine content. These test results appear in Appendix C. These test results were published in the Federal Register, and were included in cigarette advertisements published by domestic manufacturers, in accordance with a voluntary agreement submitted by those firms to the Commision in 1970. LEGISLATIVE RECOMMENDATIONS Broadcast advertisements for small cigars during 1972 have brought to question the adequacy of the definition of the term "cigarette" hich appears in Section 3 of the Public Health Cigarette Smoking ct. As Appendix B illustrates, more than two dozen varieties of omestic small cigars are marketed in this country. Most varieties ave filters; all are sold in packages of 20 and resemble cigarettes in ze and shape. All "Class A cigarettes" and all "small cigars" weigh ot more than three pounds per thousand. See 26 CFR Sections 270.11 nd 270. 24. Of the 25 varieties of small cigars tested by the Commission laboraory for tar and nicotine content, 22 varieties had a tar content within e range of tar yields reported for domestic cigarettes (1 to 35 illigrams per cigarette) and 22 varieties had a nicotine content ithin the range reported for cigarettes (0.1 to 2.4 milligrams). See ppendixes B and C. The Commission has received information from the Department of ealth, Education and Welfare which indicates that small cigars may ell present the same public health problem as cigarettes if small See pages 10 and 15. 95-147-73--3 |