5.9 "Quality" of cigarettes

Quality is a problematic concept in respect to cigarettes. When cigarettes are produced from high-grade tobacco leaves and put into an appealing package, they are marketed as high-quality cigarettes. But whether cigarettes are produced with the highest grade or the lowest grade leaves, they still harm the health of smokers and non-smokers alike who inhale the smoke. All cigarettes have nicotine, tar, and other constituents that cause harm to one's health. There may be differences in the taste and smoothness of so-called high-quality cigarettes that make them more enjoyable to smoke, and they may have lower levels of tar and nicotine. But if consumers are more likely to smoke, or smoke more because they are persuaded that the "quality" of the cigarettes is higher, they face greater health risks.

Some public health experts believe that there is no reliable data to distinguish the toxicity of cigarettes, and currently the only indicators that can be used are the presence of filter and tar and nicotine levels. The introduction of so called "light" cigarettes by the TTC cannot be considered as positive factor, since it is known that such cigarettes can be even more dangerous than the regular ones. The European Union and some other countries are going to ban the use of misleading terms such as "light" for cigarettes.

In Soviet times, tar and nicotine limits were rather high (25 mg of tar and 1.5 mg of nicotine) but there was no enforcement and a substantial number of cigarettes (especially non-filtered) exceeded those limits. In July 1997, the Ministry of Health issued an order that set a maximum permissible level for the tar and nicotine content of cigarettes. This stated that the tar content of cigarettes marketed in Ukraine should not exceed 15 mg per cigarette for filter-tipped and 22 mg for non-filter cigarettes. The nicotine content limits are 1.3 mg per cigarette for filter-tipped and 1.5 mg for non-filter cigarettes. The tobacco industry (mainly ONIFs) opposed this decision, saying that it decreases tobacco production. 

As we can see, tar and nicotine limits are much higher in Ukraine than in the EU. Thus, TTC imported cheap (due to subsidies) high-tar tobacco from the EU to produce non-filter cigarettes in Ukraine. In 1995, from 79 to 97 % of the production was non-filter cigarettes. In 2001 their proportions decreased to 5 to 29 % (Fig. 5.1). The reason was not that the TTC care about the "quality" of their cigarettes but about the increase of non-filter cigarettes taxes, and since 1998 (see Fig. 2.1.2), taxes for filter and non-filter cigarettes have been mainly equal or close. The smuggling of non-filter cigarettes from Russia also contributed to this process. However, when the excise tax for non-filter cigarettes decreased twice in 2001, BAT increased the proportion of non-filter cigarettes in its production from 15 to 24%. The Ukrainian experience shows that it is not realistic to expect that tobacco companies will decrease the toxicity of cigarettes themselves. However, a tax increase for non-filter cigarettes is a much better tool for decreasing the toxicity of cigarettes than the promises of foreign investors.