Debunking the ‘Light & Mild’ Myth”

Home

Events

Campus and City Smoking Policies

Get the Facts

LTPB Team

Contact Us

Ask Dr. Tobacco Jack

Quit Smoking Tips

Debunking the ‘Light & Mild’ Myth”

Guestbook

True or False?

Light and Mild Cigarettes – a Safer, Healthier
Alternative?

1. Light and mild cigarettes are a safer
and healthier alternative to regular cigarettes.

FALSE
Light and mild cigarettes are just as harmful as regular cigarettes,
and both:

  • share the same risk of lung cancer
  • have similar amounts of nicotine and tar
  • have the same chemicals found in cigarettes (carbon monoxide,
    nail polish remover, insecticide, etc.).

2. But, tobacco companies test their “less
harmful” light and mild cigarettes, and label them as having
reduced levels of tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide. Therefore,
it MUST be true that light and mild cigarettes are safer than
regular cigarettes!

FALSE
Tobacco companies and marketers have clever ways of making light
and mild cigarettes appear to be less harmful than regular cigarettes.
The test machines they use are not representative models of real
smokers:

  • Tiny holes are inserted around the filter to allow extra air
    to mix with the tobacco smoke, and so the cigarette companies
    were able to reduce smoking-machine readings for tar, nicotine
    and carbon monoxide readings.
  • Smokers seal or block these vent-holes where air could enter
    when they smoke. The holes are difficult to see, and are placed
    on the part of the filter where they are automatically covered
    by fingers and lips.
  • Smokers can change their smoking patterns by inhaling deeper
    and longer or by taking more frequent puffs. By taking longer
    and more frequent drags on light and mild cigarettes, smokers
    can inhale the same amount or even more tar and carcinogens,
    than if they smoke regular cigarettes.
  • Machines are mechanical and they do not change their inhalation
    rate.

Health Canada requested a modification of smoking tests to imitate
how real smokers smoke, and found that nicotine levels are
actually higher on average for Canada’s leading ‘low’-yield brands,
and only slightly lower for ‘ultra-low’ yield brands.

3. The best way to reduce health risks
from smoking right now is by quitting.

TRUE
Switching from regular cigarettes to light or mild cigarettes
has not been proven to be less harmful or a better way to reduce
harmful smoking health effects.

“Terms like light and mild were put on cigarette
packs to trick consumers into believing there is a difference
between the health damage done by different brands of cigarettes.”

– Louis Gauvin, Chair of the Ministerial Advisory Council on
Tobacco Control.

For more information and sources, visit these great links!:

https://www.leavethepackbehind.org/smokequit/smoke/lightmild.phtml
http://www.smoke-free.ca/eng_issues/health_lightlie.htm
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/english/media/releases/2001/2001_117e.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/helthrpt/stories/s1046521.htm

Debunking the ‘Light & Mild’ Myth”
Scroll to top