New tobacco controls set to go into effect

June 20, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Contra Costa Times

WALNUT CREEK, Calif.

Tough new federal anti-smoking restrictions will go into effect Tuesday, including a ban on labeling cigarettes as “light” and “mild.”

But some health advocates say cigarette manufacturers are attempting to skirt the restrictions by color-coding packs and switching to terms such as “gold” and “silver” instead of “light” and “ultra-light.”

“The tobacco industry continues to harm the health of millions of Americans with their deceptive marketing practices to circumvent the new regulations,” said Jane Warner, president and chief executive officer of the American Lung Association in California.

“We urge the FDA to take corrective action by ruling that this new wording and color coding should be ended immediately.”

The new restrictions are the result of a bill passed last year that gave the Food and Drug Administration unprecedented authority to regulate tobacco products.

The FDA decided to ban the use of terms such as “light” and “mild” because health advocates believe they can mislead consumers to assume that such products are safer.

On Thursday, the FDA sent a letter to Philip Morris USA questioning words it is including with its Marlboro Lights packs: “Your Marlboro Lights pack is changing. But your cigarette stays the same. In the future, ask for ‘Marlboro in the gold pack.’”

The firm is reviewing the FDA letter, said Bill Phelps, a spokesman for Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris. But he denied that the company is trying to circumvent the law.

It has removed terms such as “mild” and “light,” but “other than that, we’ve made minimal changes to the packs so the retailer is able to differentiate between the packs and so is the consumer,” Phelps said.

He added that the Philip Morris website makes it clear that light or mild cigarettes are not necessarily safer.

“The FDA has not determined that any cigarette is less risky or results in less exposure to harmful compounds compared to any other cigarette,” the website states.

But many health advocates believe this does not go far enough.

“The tobacco industry is attempting to undermine the intent of the law,” said Denice Dennis, tobacco prevention project manager for Contra Costa Public Health. “They are always trying to stay two steps ahead of the regulations.”