| Tobacco was initially used by
| |
| | However much tobacco executives attempted
|
| pre-Columbian Native Americans, who
| |
| | to hide the dangers of their product from
|
| smoked it in pipes and even used it for
| |
| | the public, increasing market demand
|
| hallucinogenic purposes in shamanic
| |
| | eventually forced all cigarette companies
|
| rituals. Christopher Columbus was given
| |
| | to develop some filter systems for their
|
| tobacco by natives and introduced it
| |
| | cigarettes. Filtered cigarettes
|
| Europe when he returned from North
| |
| | accounted for only 1 percent of cigarette
|
| America.
| |
| | purchases in 1950, but this had soared to
|
| However, tobacco did not become widely
| |
| | 87 percent by 1975.
|
| used in Europe until the middle of the
| |
| | However, the development of filtered
|
| 16th century, when explorers and
| |
| | cigarettes met two hurdles, one medical
|
| diplomats such as France's Jean Nicot
| |
| | and the other a matter of personal taste.
|
| (for whom nicotine was named)
| |
| | Because smokers are nicotine addicts,
|
| popularized its use.
| |
| | they will smoke until their craving for
|
| Tobacco was introduced to France in 1556,
| |
| | nicotine is satisfied. A filter which
|
| Portugal in 1558, Spain in 1559, and
| |
| | removes nicotine will simply prompt them
|
| England in 1565.
| |
| | to inhale more deeply or smoke more
|
| Initially, tobacco was produced for pipe
| |
| | cigarettes. A filter which removes the
|
| smoking, chewing and snuff. Cigarettes
| |
| | tar components of tobacco will remove the
|
| were made in a crude, hand-rolled form
| |
| | taste and smoking sensation to which
|
| since the early 1600s, but did not become
| |
| | smokers have become accustomed, and
|
| popular in America until after the
| |
| | consumers find such a product lacking in
|
| civil war. Cigarette sales surged with
| |
| | "flavor". Due to compensatory behavior
|
| introduction of the cigarette rolling
| |
| | by smokers, the amount of toxins consumed
|
| machine by James Bonsack in 1883, in a
| |
| | is not significantly less than from an
|
| contest sponsored by tobacco company
| |
| | unfiltered cigarette, and there is no
|
| Allen and Ginter, who promised $75,000 to
| |
| | proof filtered cigarettes are less of
|
| the first person to invent a fast
| |
| | health risk.
|
| cigarette-rolling machine. This
| |
| | Still, tobacco companies persist in their
|
| facilitated industrialized production and
| |
| | efforts to develop better filters. Often
|
| widespread distribution of cigarettes.
| |
| | they are hampered not by lack of
|
| Since then, nicotine addiction has become
| |
| | technical knowledge but by consumer
|
| a public-health concern in virtually
| |
| | behavior. In 1975, Brown and Williamson
|
| every nation on Earth.
| |
| | introduced a new cigarette called Fact,
|
| Warnings about the health risks of
| |
| | with a new filter designed to selectively
|
| smoking were muted until the 1950's and
| |
| | remove toxic compounds such a cyanide.
|
| 1960's, when a series of unsuccessful
| |
| | However the product did not please
|
| lawsuits forced the issue into the public
| |
| | consumers, and was removed from the
|
| eye. Not until the 1990's would a
| |
| | market two years later.
|
| lawsuit be won by the plaintiff.
| |
| | An internet search for "cigarette filter
|
| However, the American Surgeon General
| |
| | patent" produces 425,000 results as
|
| first demanded that warning labels be
| |
| | manufacturers strive to outdo each over
|
| placed on cigarette packages started in
| |
| | in the invention of filter materials and
|
| 1966.
| |
| | baffles to construct a cigarette which
|
| Both the tar and nicotine in cigarettes
| |
| | they claim is less toxic but still
|
| are toxins, each its own way; and that's
| |
| | appealing to smokers.
|
| without mentioning the poisonous
| |
| | It is difficult to make a filter which
|
| substances such as arsenic used in the
| |
| | removes tar but not nicotine, and tobacco
|
| curing process. Nicotine is as addictive
| |
| | companies have now focused their
|
| as heroin or cocaine, and has
| |
| | attention on growing tobacco plants with
|
| long-lasting effects on the brain's
| |
| | a higher nicotine content, in order to
|
| dopamine systems. The "tar" which
| |
| | satisfy smokers' nicotine addiction with
|
| filters attempt to remove falls into four
| |
| | proportionately less exposure to tar.
|
| categories of substances: nitrosamines,
| |
| | Rumors that cigarette companies
|
| widely held to be the most carcinogenic
| |
| | "spike"their products with extra nicotine
|
| of all the agents in tobacco smoke;
| |
| | have met with public uproar, since
|
| aldehydes, created by the burning of
| |
| | cigarettes are sold as a natural
|
| sugars and cellulose in tobacco;
| |
| | agricultural product.
|
| polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons which
| |
| | Scientists have also experiments with
|
| form in the cigarette behind the burning
| |
| | tobacco substitutes , with ingredients
|
| tip; and trace amounts of heavy metals
| |
| | such as wood pulp, which would produce
|
| from fertilizers used to grow the plant.
| |
| | smoke flavor with less tar. Legal
|
| Tobacco companies were loath to admit in
| |
| | hurdles have stopped such projects, as
|
| public that they knew the dangers posed
| |
| | they are no longer "natural" but rather
|
| by their product; however, in a sideways
| |
| | an artificially-manufactured substance
|
| concession to tobacco foes, they produced
| |
| | about which health claims are being made.
|
| what were advertised as "safer" filtered
| |
| | Such products are treated as drugs, and
|
| cigarettes.
| |
| | subject to lengthy regulatory battles
|
| In the 1958 a scientist working for
| |
| | before they are allowed to be sold. For
|
| Philip Morris went so far as to admit
| |
| | the tobacco companies, manipulating
|
| publicly that, "Evidence is builing up
| |
| | naturally-grown tobacco leaf is cheaper
|
| that heavy smoking contributes to lung
| |
| | and more profitable in a competitive
|
| cancer." He cleverly suggested that this
| |
| | marketplace.
|
| admission could be turned into a "wealth
| |
| | Since a cigarette is basically a delivery
|
| of ammunition" to attack the competion by
| |
| | system for an addictive drug, nicotine,
|
| suggesting that Philip Morris, unlike its
| |
| | it is theoretically possible to produce a
|
| competitors, made cigarettes with filters
| |
| | product which has only nicotine, without
|
| to screen out the toxins. In 1986 the CEO
| |
| | the diversion of tar. In fact, such a
|
| of British American Tobacco, Patrick
| |
| | product exists: the nicotine patch. At
|
| Sheehy, had a different opinion, and
| |
| | its most basic level, it has exactly the
|
| wrote that, "in attempting to develop a
| |
| | same function as a cigarette. However, it
|
| "safe" cigarette you are, by implication,
| |
| | has less social cachet than the
|
| in danger of being interpreted as
| |
| | packaging, rituals and paraphenalia
|
| accepting the current product is unsafe,
| |
| | associated with smoking: it is for people
|
| and this is not a position that I think
| |
| | who want to wean themselves off their
|
| we should take."
| |
| | addiction.
|
