In a Rabbit's Eye

The Federal Trade Commission has developed a slow burn over the claims of U.S. cigarette manufacturers. In two years, it has forbidden Old Golds to claim that they contain less nicotine, Camels that they aid digestion or relieve fatigue, Luckies that they are preferred by men who know tobacco best. Last week FTC turned its beady eye on Philip Morris, which advertises "no cigarette hangover" because its cigarettes are "definitely less irritating."

At stake was Philip Morris' chief stock in trade. In 18 years, its sales have shot from $2.6 million to $305 million, largely on the strength of the fact that Philip Morris uses diethylene glycol (instead of glycerin) as a moistening agent. It has persuaded thousands of smokers, in its famous "nose test," that consequently Philip Morris cigarettes are less irritating. As evidence, Philip Morris presented the FTC with testimony from doctors, researchers and others who reported on "scientific" tests as far back as 1934. For every expert brought in by Philip Morris, competitors and U.S. glycerin manufacturers popped up their own counter-experts.

The stars of the tests were rabbits, the cigarette makers' favorite subjects for irritation experiments. Philip Morris, for example, bubbled smoke of different brands of cigarettes through water, then dripped the solution on to a rabbit's eyelids. It claimed Philip Morris smoke produced less irritation. Rivals made more direct tests. They developed smoking machines and eyecups to blow smoke smack against the rabbit's eyelid, claimed they found no measurable differences in brands. To measure the amount of swelling caused by protective fluids rushing into the smoke-filled eyes,* testers even trimmed off the upper lids, weighed the membranous linings, then dried them in an oven, and weighed them again. FTC ruled this test out. Philip Morris cut holes in rabbits' tracheas to pump smoke into their lungs (five of the rabbits died, but Philip Morris says they were smoking rival brands). Competitors pumped smoke through the noses of dogs to see if nasal passages were irritated enough to cause obstruction.

But none of the tests impressed FTC. It stuck to its earlier findings that tobacco itself is the major irritant in cigarettes, and that all cigarettes are about equally irritating. Accordingly, it forbade Philip Morris from making any further claims that its cigarettes are "less irritating," and that "outstanding nose & throat specialists" recommend them for their patients who smoke.

* Nonsmokers, whose eyes usually catch most of the smoke from burning cigarettes in the gesturing hands of companions, learned something else from the tests: the smarting sensation is caused by gaseous ammonia rising from the burning tip. The smoker usually doesn't get it because the ammonia passes through the cigarette in a non-irritating salt form.

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