In a recent study published on its official website, the Dutch National Institute for Public Health (RIVM) reveals that cigarette tests clearly underestimate the dangers of smoking. In question, the prescribed ISO method which would lack reliability.
THE QUANTITY OF TAR, NICOTINE AND CARBON MONOXIDE UNDERESTIMATED?
Much like car pollution testing, tobacco companies may have been successful in minimizing the amount of tar and carbon monoxide ingested by smokers in Europe due to a flaw in the testing process. This is revealed by the Dutch National Institute for Public Health (RIVM) in a recent study . This loophole means that most cigarettes would exceed the legal limits for their harmful content in the European Union.
At the heart of the study: the small holes in the cigarette filters that allow the air to mix with the tobacco vapors. However, the latter are more or less blocked when a smoker holds the filter between his fingers while the common method for testing tobacco products according to European Union rules, called ISO, leaves these holes uncovered.
RIVM measures much higher levels of tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide in cigarettes https://t.co/tHIds7HlZt pic.twitter.com/lbFeJ2QB7U
- RIVM (@rivm) June 12, 2018
The levels of tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide inhaled under normal conditions could be up to 20 times higher than indicated, according to
RIVM, which reports to the Dutch Ministry of Health.
Results were obtained by testing 100 brands of cigarettes using the Canadian Intense test method that covers holes in filters. Within the framework of this method, all the brands tested except one exceed the legal limits with a tar content between 2 and 26 times higher than that of the European diet, the nicotine between 2 and 17 times higher and the carbon monoxide between 2 and 20 times higher.
« The results of this research support the conclusion that the prescribed ISO method underestimates the amounts of tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide that a smoker ingests. “, Concludes the RIVM. " The committee that developed this method is largely influenced by the tobacco industry. The RIVM therefore recommends including in the law an independent measurement method"
