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would be led to believe by the industry that the smoking of the 

 lower tar and nicotine cigarettes is safer. 



And yet, this chart flies in the face of that, that you may, indeed, 

 be subject to even more nicotine in a low-tar cigarette that has 

 been advertised as being safer. 



Mr. Kessler. The lowest-tar cigarettes usually have less tobacco 

 in them. The absolute amount of nicotine, the nicotine may be the 

 same in the highest, medium or low, but the concentration is high- 

 est in the lowest tar cigarette so there is more nicotine proportion- 

 ally in that tobacco versus in the highest brand. 



But you raise a most important question, and that is, what is a 

 consumer who wants to reduce levels supposed to do? Dr. 

 Henningfield — in talking about this, he draws a analogy to food la- 

 beling and what does "lite" mean? And unfortunately, there is not 

 a correlation between FTC yield numbers and what is actually ab- 

 sorbed in the body. 



And if I could just have the FTC charts, the reason for that — 

 it is not that the machine isn't working and it is not that the FTC 

 is not doing and overseeing the tests correctly. They are. They are 

 doing a good job. 



The issue is that the humans don't smoke like the machines, the 

 ones at the FTC. 



Mr. Synar. The one that Mr. Bliley put up there. 



Mr. Kessler. There are a number of reasons why the low-yield 

 cigarette really in many ways is a myth. One, the serving size; if 

 you hold the analogy, the puff volume, is not the same. Smokers 

 compensate. 



There are also certain ways that the manufacturers can — under 

 the manufacturer's control that can reduce the level below the rat- 

 ing for which the FTC rates cigarettes. For example, the placement 

 of ventilation holes on the cigarette. I don't think most people even 

 know that there are ventilation holes, and when you put the ciga- 

 rette in the machine, the machine doesn't cover the ventilation 

 holes. 



But, in fact — I think there is a picture, Andrew, of the actual 

 ventilation holes. The cigarette with the holes, if you can find it. 

 The machine doesn't cover those holes. You can see the cigarette, 

 and there is a magnification. This is one of the ways you get a low- 

 jdeld cigarette it is not by reducing the nicotine in the tobacco rod 

 necessarily. 



One of the major advances, one of the technologies is to increase 

 the air dilution. And these holes are one of the ways to increase, 

 put more air into the smoke, thereby reducing the amount of active 

 ingredients in the smoke. But the machine doesn't cover those 

 holes. 



Kozlowski in the early 1980's did a number of studies, and he 

 found that between 30 and 60 percent of people cover those holes 

 with either their lips or their fingers. And some don't even know 

 that they are doing it; and when you cover those holes, you end up 

 getting more of the nicotine that is in that tobacco rod. 



Mr. Synar. So the physical building of the cigarette, which then 

 can take advantage of the advertising that it is lower tar and nico- 

 tine, is defeated by the mere using of the fingers and the lips. 



Mr. Kessler. Let me show you another one. 



