Study finds cigarette filters do smokers more harm than good

It’s no secret that smoking is bad for you, but a study has revealed the one safety measure supposed to protect you has actually been increasing your chances of lung cancer.

The study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, found cigarette filters have done smokers more harm than good over the years.

Filters were introduced by tobacco companies in the 1960s as a safety precaution and to get ahead of the bad press beginning to circulate about smoking.

It was thought the filters would reduce the health risks by ventilating the smoke and reducing the amount of tar filling the lungs.

However, since the filters were introduced, the incidence of lung adenocarcinoma – a type of lung cancer – has risen among smokers and is attributed to 60 per cent of non-small cell lung cancer.

Now researchers say that while the tar yields are indeed lower with filters, the cigarette burns slower, which results in more puffs and more time for the coal to smoulder and leave toxic residue in the lungs.

“The use of ventilation in the filters of cigarettes has failed to make cigarettes safer, and more than likely has made them more harmful,” the authors concluded.

“The [US Food and Drug Administration] now has the authority to require the elimination of filter ventilation because ventilation does not serve any public health purpose and instead provides a false promise of reduced risk.”

Curtin University professor of health policy Mike Daube told the Sydney Morning Herald it was “one of the most important papers on tobacco in recent years” and urged the government to take notice.

“There is a long history of tobacco industry fraud in relation to lower tar products, and of consumer perceptions that modern filters somehow make cigarettes less harmful,” Professor Daube told SMH.

He said removing the filters would likely discourage young people from wanting to smoke and reduce the health risks associated with cigarettes. 

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