Tar, Nicotine & Butts

For two months, a Federal Trade Commission smoking machine has been puffing manfully on 59 different types and sizes of cigarettes representing 23 different brand names. Results of the tests last week produced the first Government-established levels of cigarette tar and nicotine content.

Of the 59 varieties, 70-mm. Marvel filters came out with least tar (3.9 milligrams in each cigarette) and nicotine (0.12 mg.), while non-filtered, 85-mm. Chesterfields ranked tops in tar (28.6 mg.) and 13th highest in nicotine (1.54 mg.). The ten bestselling cigarettes showed the following yields, in increasing order of tar content, when smoked down to the indicated "butt length":

Brand & Length Type* Tar Nicotine Butt Length

Kent 85 mm. F 17.4 mg. 1.09 mg. 26-28 mm.

Tareyton 85 mm. F 17.5 107 25-29

Kool 85 mm. MF 20.2 1.56 26-28

Winston 85 mm. F 20.4 1.29 27-28

Marlboro 80 mm. F 20.4 1.34 27-29

Viceroy 85 mm. F 21.0 1.43 27-28

Salem 85 mm. MF 21.1 1.36 27-28

Camel 70 mm. NF 24.2 1.39 23

Lucky Strike 70 mm NF 26.4 1.55 23

Pall Mall 85 mm. NF 27.1 1.60 23

The tests were urged on the FTC by Washington Democrat Warren G. Magnuson, the Senate's chief anti-smoking warrior. The commission, which had called a halt to the tobacco industry's health-prompted "tar derby" back in 1960 on grounds that no standard testing methods existed, reversed itself last year at Magnuson's behest. With the new rankings, which will be revised periodically, Magnuson hopes that now "the American smoker will choose his poison" and force the industry into another derby.

Tobaccomen took a different view. The Tobacco Institute countered that there remains "no scientific evidence" that human health is affected by tar or nicotine. As for the tests, the institute complained that the FTC did not cover all 150 varieties of cigarettes available. Its big beef over butt length in the tests drew some surprising support from within the FTC itself.

That feud centered on the FTC's decision to smoke nonfilters down to a finger-burning 23 mm. (about 1/2 of an inch); the filters were puffed to a bare 1/8 of an inch before the filter wrapping. The industry protested that the average smoker tosses the butt away at 30 mm. (about 1 1/2 in.). The FTC itself was divided 3 to 2 on whether to make the butt 23 mm. or 30 mm., which would generally lower the levels but make for more uniform testing because most filter and non-filter types could then be smoke-tested to the same length. Since a milligram is only 1/28,000 of an ounce, the varying butt lengths could affect rankings. So, rebutting his own commission's findings, FTC chairman Paul Rand Dixon argued that the tests were of "doubtful" comparative value.

There were other gripes, too. The American Tobacco Co. complained that the 23.1 mg. of tar reported for its 100-mm. Pall Mall filters was based on an old version replaced in October by an improved filter that yields less than 21 mg. For all the huffs, however, Magnuson is going ahead with plans to urge retailers to display the rankings at cigarette counters.

* F -- filter, MF -- menthol filter, NF -- non-filter.

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