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ISSUES
INGREDIENTS
Governments in countries such as the UK, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and France have legislation or voluntary agreements, which list the ingredients that may or may not be used in tobacco products. Our companies comply fully in these countries with laws and agreements and, for countries without published legislation, uniform standards are set for the Group based on the existing laws and on scientific assessment when applied to tobacco and foodstuffs.
As with many consumer products, precise flavourings used in individual brands are valuable trade secrets protected from competitors. While tobacco companies maintain commercial confidentiality, we co-operate with governments in providing the information they need for regulatory assessment and we publish information about ingredients of these flavourings to provide quantitative information about them without compromising proprietary information.
There are Group-wide procedures to ensure to the best of their ability that ingredients used in Group companies' products do not present any additional health risks.
Some important considerations about ingredients
- In our view, based on the currently available scientific evidence, the ingredients that Group companies use, at the levels used, do not add to the harm of tobacco consumption, do not induce people to start smoking and do not affect people's ability to quit.
- There is no evidence that smoking cigarettes without ingredients reduces the health risks. There is no such thing as a safe cigarette.
- Tobacco products are not "spiked" with nicotine.
- Ingredients are not added to increase the amount of nicotine in cigarette smoke, nor to increase the amount or speed of nicotine absorbed into the smoker's body.
- Ingredients are not added to make cigarettes appealing to children. the ingredients in some cigarettes do include sugars, cocoa and fruit extracts, but they blend with tobacco, making a characteristic tobacco taste distinct from the effect these ingredients have on foods.