The lightest market in the world: light and mild cigarettes in Japan

This article reviews the history of the introduction and use of light and mild labeled cigarettes in Japan, the "lightest" market in the world. Systematic keyword and opportunistic Web site searches were conducted on tobacco industry internal documents relevant to Japan, supplemented with relevant material from the tobacco trade and sociological literatures. Certain "market quirks" of the Japanese society benefited the tobacco industry in promoting its light and mild cigarettes. Japan's is a trend-conscious society with a penchant for new fashion and products. The Japanese are innovative, with the propensity to transform concepts into something characteristically their own marked by a distinct cultural style, such as the concept of keihaku tansho ("light-thin-short-small"). With big-budget sophisticated advertising, tobacco companies developed a lucrative market for mild, light, and ultra-low-tar cigarettes. Smokers had a preference for charcoal filters, which they believed protected them. Tar numbers meant little to smokers. The transnational tobacco companies capitalized on consumer concerns about the health hazards of smoking to promote low-tar cigarettes as a safer alternative. This may be one factor that explains why smoking prevalence in Japan remains high. Light and mild cigarettes are popular in Japan because Japanese smokers believe low tar/nicotine cigarette with charcoal filters protect them and help mollify their health concerns about smoking.     

Mainstream smoke emissions of Australian and Canadian cigarettes.

We investigated how mainstream smoke emissions vary and interrelate in 15 Australian and 21 Canadian brands, using public emissions disclosures from 2001. These disclosures provided emission data for 40 hazardous agents under both standard and intensive ISO testing conditions. Our analyses focused on "adjusted emissions" (i.e., emissions per milligram of nicotine yield) for 13 selected agents. Adjusted emissions differed significantly by ISO testing condition for 9 of the 13 selected agents. Intensive condition adjusted emissions were strongly negatively correlated for several agent pairs. Country and manufacturer variables were the strongest predictors of intensive condition adjusted emissions for 8 of the 13 selected agents and significant predictors for all of them. Taken together, these results suggest potential for the intent of emission limits to be undermined by risk swapping (in which one specific exposure is reduced within a group at the cost of another's exposure increasing) and risk shifting (in which a specific exposure is reduced within a group at the cost of that exposure's increasing within another group).     

Smokers are unaware of the filter vents now on most cigarettes: results of a national survey

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate awareness and knowledge of cigarette filter ventilation in a national probability sample of smokers of Ultra-light, Light, and regular cigarettes. DESIGN: Random-digit-dialling and computer-assisted telephone interviewing was used on a probability sample of daily cigarette smokers (ages 18 and above). SUBJECTS AND SETTING: 218 Smokers of Ultra-light cigarettes, 360 smokers of Light cigarettes, and 210 smokers of Regular cigarettes living in the continental United States. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Percentage of respondents indicating knowledge of the presence of filter vents and the consequences of behavioural blocking of vents. RESULTS: Many smokers had not heard about or seen the filter holes: 43% (95% CI = 36 to 50%) of smokers of Ultra-lights, 39% (95% CI = 34 to 44%) of smokers of Lights, and 47% (95% CI = 40 to 54%) of smokers of Regulars. About two in three smokers either did not know of the existence of rings of small holes on the filters of some cigarettes, or did not know that blocking increases tar yields: 69% (95% CI = 63 to 75%) of Ultra- lights, 66% (95% CI = 61 to 71%) of Lights, and 69% (95% CI = 63 to 75%) of Regulars. CONCLUSIONS: Smokers are generally unaware of the presence and function of filter vents-a major design feature subject to behavioural blocking by smokers and now present on most cigarettes in the United States. Smokers and policy-makers need to be informed about the presence of filter vents and how vent blocking increases tar and nicotine yields from ostensibly very low-yield cigarettes.


     

在线打孔参数对细支卷烟理化指标的影响

为考察在线激光打孔参数对细支卷烟理化指标的影响,制备不同打孔位置、打孔数量及激光脉冲持续的细支卷烟样品,考察打孔位置及数量等参数对细支卷烟通风率、通风率稳定性及主流烟气成分释放量的影响。结果表明:(1)与正常卷烟相比,在线激光打孔位置对细支卷烟影响较小,不同打孔位置卷烟理化指标变化幅度较小,以滤嘴中间位置(距唇端14mm)时通风率最大,主流烟气释放量最小;(2)细支卷烟在线激光打孔数量及时间对理化指标有显著影响,通风率均值随打孔数量和激光脉冲持续时间的增加而提高,主流烟气释放量随之显著降低,细支卷烟可通过调整打孔数量等参数获得适宜的通风率和烟气指标。     

"Australia is one of the darkest markets in the world": the global importance of Australian tobacco control

"Australia is one of the darkest markets in the world... it probably is the darkest, I mean ourselves and Canada fight every month for who's got the darkest conditions to do tobacco manufacturing and marketing. And one of the things we can offer the world is what we do best, which is how to work, maximize, proactively drive our market position in a market that's completely dark. Now that takes a different skillset... a different type of learning. We need to export that... we know we have a lot of expatriates who come down to Australia for learning. they can come here and learn these techniques and take them back to Europe or Latin America or to the United States or to Africa... But the other thing that is really good for us is that we are also a huge net exporter of Australian talent. about 30 or 40 people currently off-shore... We do things really differently here than most other BAT organizations." David Crowe, Marketing Director, British American Tobacco (BAT) Australia(1).     

宣贯《浓香型、清香型、米香型白酒》新标准——清香型米香型白酒

2007年5月1日开始实施浓香型、清香型、米香型白酒的新标准。其新的标准代号分别为GB/T10781.1-2006、GB/T10781.2-2006、GB/T10781.3-2006。新标准的内容与旧标准相比,即有新增也有调整。     

Relationship between UVA protection and skin response to UV light: proposal for labelling UVA protection

Definition and validation of a most relevant method to assess ultravoilet A (UVA) protection is a major concern for industry, authorities and consumers. However, due to the lack of knowledge about all the biological phenomena involved, the level of UVA protection needed, the ways to assess and label it, remain controversial. In order to overcome this situation, the paper deals with the outcomes of a mathematical model to calculate the distribution between ultravoilet B (UVB) and UVA components of skin responses to UV light. Mathematical calculations of UVB and UVA erythemal components of skin response to sunlight are developed from the well-known determination procedure to calculate the sunburn protection factor (SPF) of sunscreens. The model establishes the relationship between the UVA component of skin erythemal response to overall UV radiation received from sunlight and the ratio SPF/PFAe (erythemal protection factor) where SPF is the product and PFAe is related to the UVA part of the sunlight. Depending on the efficacy profile of sunscreens, the skin erythemal response may be mainly promoted by UVB rays as it normally occurs in unprotected skin or on contrary by UVA rays. Therefore, the efficacy profile of sunscreens defines the deepness where biological events induced by sunlight take place. This new relationship pinpoints the tremendous importance of the protection afforded by sunscreen products in the UVA range when erythema is taken as biological response. By extrapolation of the model to any other biological skin response it becomes possible to predict how to improve the efficiency of sunscreen products in the future. UVA protection afforded by sunscreens should be improved until reaching the same level as the SPF protection factor so that all UV-induced biological responses could be prevented or lowered at the same extend. To enforce this improvement, a proposal to classify sunscreen products in relation with their UVA protection is made.     

“黄金叶”品牌河南烟叶工业分选方法建立与应用

为建立基于“黄金叶”品牌需求的河南烟叶工业分选方法,利用豫中许昌、豫西三门峡产区品质梯度烟叶样品制备试验,研究筛选烟叶工业分选指标,建立烟叶工业分选方法并开展应用验证。结果表明,①许昌和三门峡产区烟叶的品质特征存在差异,但部位间表现不完全一致。②油润感、柔软度、叶片结构是影响两产区烟叶感官品质的共性外观指标,其中油润感或柔软度决定烟叶感官品质总得分变异的24.4%~61.9%,颜色深浅、身份是许昌产区影响烟叶感官品质的个性化外观指标,而三门峡产区则为光泽度。③两糖比值是影响两产区烟叶品质特征的关键化学成分指标,决定许昌产区烟叶油润感和柔软度分值变异的23.9%~68.5%,与碳水化合物含量共同决定三门峡产区烟叶油润感和柔软度分值变异的39.1%~50.5%。通过上述烤烟外观指标建立烟叶工业分选方法,可实现不同感官品质烟叶的科学分类。      

“少即是多”，福伊特制浆环保新主张

“Lessis More（少即是多）”,这是二十世纪中期世界著名现代主义建筑大师路德维西·米斯·凡德罗（Ludwig Mies van der Rohe）的传世名言。这位出生在德国的大师,将“少”与“多”的辩证哲学思想融入其建筑设计美学之中,