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June 6, 2005

Mapping the Tobacco Industry's New Roadshow

Here's a press release from the Harvard School of Public Health. A new report in the journal ADDICTION, uncovers the continued lengths the tobacco industry has gone to expand its market. The release mentions a newer focus on "product design" as opposed to marketing as a way to encourage smoking among women and girls.

Some of the design changes tobacco researchers have explored include adding appetite suppressants (so they could promote cigarettes as a weight control method), reducing sidestream smoke (less smoke equals healthier product), improving the flavour as well as playing with the shape to make cigarettes "longer and slimmer" in order to "create the illusion of a "healthier" [cigarette]".

To a certain degree, the tobacco industry's actions don't really surprise me; like many North Americans, I've become that jaded. What is disconcerting however is the impact the industry's research could have on women in developing nations. As the release states, female smoking rates are expected to reach 20 percent by 2025...primarily as a result of increased smoking among women in developing nations. Sensing defeat in the U.S and Canada, the tobacco industry is clearly poised to pitch its tent elsewhere where people, especially women, are much less jaded.

Posted by Jason at June 6, 2005 9:29 PM