A lawsuit has been filed against Philip Morris, British American Tobacco, Imperial Brand and Japan Tobacco, accused of falsifying the actual levels of tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide in their cigarettes. Criminal proceedings have already been initiated for this same reason in Switzerland and the Netherlands.
The National Committee Against Smoking (CNTC) has filed a complaint with the public prosecutor against tobacco companies Philip Morris, British American Tobacco, Imperial Brand and Japan Tobacco for “deliberate endangerment of the person of others”, revealed The world. According to the CNTC, the actual tar content would be “between two and ten times greater than that indicated (on the packets) and five times greater for nicotine”. To summarize, the posted rates of these substances would be much lower than reality.
After the “Dieselgate”, make way for the “Filtergate”
A disparity due to micro-orifices placed on the filters of cigarettes. They allow a dilution of the smoke when the tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide levels are measured with a regulatory smoking machine. When the cigarette is consumed, on the other hand, the smoker’s lips and fingers block the micro-perforations, which causes him to inhale higher levels of nicotine and tar.
Switzerland and the Netherlands targeted by criminal proceedings
The CNCT specified in a press release that criminal proceedings “also initiated in other countries (the Netherlands, Switzerland) with the support of associations of patients”. “The objective is that with this trial, we demonstrate once again that the tobacco industry is deceiving and is unspeakable in terms of behavior”, explain to France Info Professor Yves Martinet, president of the CNCT.
A process known in the tobacco industry
Each brand uses its own technique but today “97% of cigarettes have invisible perforations in the filter” which are not there to act on the taste, but on the tests, according to the CNCT. This process has been around since the 1950s, when the United States tightened regulations on cigarettes. In Switzerland in 1982, Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds took their competitor British American Tobacco to court for having put up for sale a cigarette said to be low in nicotine and tar.
They explained to the judge on May 6, 1983 that the results of the tests could not be trusted: “If the indications appearing on the packaging of the Barclay cigarette are correct when the cigarette is tested by means of a standardized machine, these results are totally different when the Barclay cigarette is smoked by a human mouth. ” They also evoke according to France Info, “four peripheral channels with which the filter is provided”.
The cigarette in a few figures
Every day around the world, 11 million cigarettes are sold, generating 39 billion in profits, the equivalent of Luxembourg’s GDP. In 2015 in France, 34% of men and 28% of women smoked. If the Russians are the biggest consumers, the French are not left out: France has more than 13 million smokers who consume 55,000 tonnes of tobacco each year. According to OFDT, 55,000,000,000 cigarettes were sold in France in 2014.
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