On his tobacco blog, Tobaccoanalysis.com, ACSH scientific advisor Dr. Michael Siegel, a professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health, addresses the misleading claims of a recent article published in Tobacco Control, in which the authors reprimand the tobacco industry for not doing enough to lower the levels of tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs) in cigarettes over the years.
The researchers call on the FDA to require a reduction in TSNA levels in cigarettes, stating that lower levels of the compound will reduce the risk of cancer among smokers. Had tobacco companies done so, these researcher assert, they could have essentially made cigarettes safer.
“Tobacco smoke constituents are composed of thousands of substances — several hundred of which are inhaled — and at least 40 of them are known to be carcinogens. So to insinuate that you can make cigarettes safer by reducing TSNA levels is unjustified by any data, and if tobacco companies were to make those very same statements, they’d be violating the law,” notes ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross, agreeing with Dr. Siegel’s polemic.