VCU news

By Lorraine Cichowski and Thomas Eissenberg

RICHMOND, Va. – New products for smokers marketed as a means to reduce the health risks of smoking may, in fact, offer few health benefits and could introduce new risks, according to two studies by an innovative testing lab at Virginia Commonwealth University that tests how smokers use the products and what chemicals they inhale.

In one study by VCU’s Clinical Behavioral Pharmacology Laboratory, researchers found that the Advance cigarette, sold by Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. and based on tobacco-curing technology developed by Star Scientific, Inc., to reduce levels of carcinogenic nitrosamines, produced 11 percent less carbon monoxide, which is linked to several smoking-related diseases, including heart disease.  

However, compared with conventional cigarettes, Advance also delivered 25 percent more nicotine into the bloodstream, according to the study published in the December issue of Tobacco Control.  Because nicotine is the drug in tobacco that causes addiction, higher levels of nicotine could lead to increased dependence on cigarettes.  The study reported in Tobacco Control did not measure inhaled levels of nitrosamines, although researchers plan follow-up studies.

A separate study by the VCU lab, published in the December Harm Reduction supplement to the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research, evaluated Philip Morris U.S.A.’s Accord and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.’s Eclipse – both cigarette-like devices that heat, rather than burn, tobacco. The study compared Accord and Eclipse to conventional cigarettes in terms of their effects on smokers’ heart rates, carbon monoxide and nicotine inhalation and ability to control cigarette cravings and withdrawal.

·    Philip Morris Accord: Results showed that Accord boosted smoker heart rates and carbon monoxide levels less than traditional cigarettes and delivered significantly less nicotine. However, the Accord also was less effective at suppressing craving and withdrawal symptoms than standard cigarettes.  If the product fails to suppress craving and withdrawal effectively, smokers may use it more than they use regular cigarettes or continue to use regular cigarettes to satisfy cigarette cravings or relieve feelings of restlessness, impatience or depression.

·    R.J. Reynolds Eclipse: Results showed that Eclipse increased heart rates and suppressed withdrawal about the same as conventional cigarettes, but it delivered about one third more carbon monoxide than regular cigarettes.  Other research suggests that Eclipse also may contain harmful glass fibers not found in regular cigarettes.

“Based on our evaluation, all three alternative cigarettes appear to reduce some toxins that are associated with smoking-related diseases, but our testing also revealed that Advance and Eclipse may increase levels of dangerous substances produced by these cigarettes that smokers should be aware of,” says Thomas Eissenberg, Ph.D., pictured right, VCU associate professor of psychology and head of the Clinical Behavioral Pharmacology Laboratory. “Increased exposure to lethal smoke constituents is not a strong indicator of an effective harm-reduction strategy.”

VCU is on the cutting edge of research into so-called “potential reduced exposure products” for smokers that are being developed in an apparent attempt to help reduce the health hazards of smoking. Currently, little objective research beyond VCU’s work exists to evaluate claims by the tobacco industry that its new products may reduce smokers’ exposure to certain elements of lethal smoke.

Eissenberg’s lab is developing methods to assess the health effects of the new cigarettes for smokers, using a data-collection system developed and marketed by Plowshare Technologies, Inc., of Baltimore, MD, (www.plowshare.com). The lab’s goal is to study pharmacological and psychological factors that can help reduce people’s desire to smoke, which has been linked to such diseases as cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic bronchitis and emphysema and is blamed for more than 400,000 annual deaths in the United States.

“Judging by recently released or announced products, the U.S. tobacco industry appears to have a growing interest in marketing products that potentially reduce the harm from smoking,” says Eissenberg. “Those initiatives may be motivated by the potential to decrease smoking-related deaths and disease. However, the tobacco industry also may be motivated, at least in part, by the desire to maintain or increase tobacco sales and profits.

“The profit motive, coupled with the tobacco industry’s history of failure to decrease harm by marketing lower-yield ‘light’ and ‘ultra light’ cigarettes, underscore the need for careful evaluation of industry-sponsored potential reduced exposure products. Policymakers and smokers need to know the risks associated with these products, but there have been few objective pre-marketing evaluations of them. We have to find a way to tell smokers and non-smokers, ‘Here are the health risks you can expect.’ Right now, there’s little non-industry data to support the health claims.”

These and other studies at the Clinical Behavioral Pharmacology Laboratory are supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.