All the nic that fits

I'm shocked, shocked.

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health say they have confirmed a study by the state that found nicotine levels in cigarettes increased from 1997 until 2005.

The analysis, based on data submitted to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health by cigarette manufacturers, found that increases in smoke nicotine yield per cigarette averaged 1.6 percent each year, for a total of about 11 percent over a seven-year period.

"Cigarettes are finely tuned drug delivery devices, designed to perpetuate a tobacco pandemic," said Howard Koh, an associate dean for public health practice who worked on the analysis. "Yet precise information about these products remains shrouded in secrecy, hidden from the public."

The health department study released last October examined nicotine levels in more than 100 brands over a six-year period. The study showed a steady climb in the amount of nicotine delivered to the lungs of smokers.

Gregory Connolly, head of the Tobacco Control Research Program at the Harvard School of Public Health, said the increase found in Harvard's study is due primarily to an increase in nicotine in the raw tobacco used in the cigarettes.

"There's something going on either with the type of tobacco they're using or the addition of more nicotine to the reconstituted tobacco. We just don't know," Connolly said.

He also said the findings call into question whether the tobacco industry is living up to its 1998 agreement with states that it would launch a campaign to reduce smoking by young people.

"If that same industry turns around and advances the availability of nicotine in the product, you may not get fewer kids smoking," he said.

Just in case there's any confusion: Tobacco companies want people to smoke, and want them to smoke a lot.

Forget all that bullshit about encouraging people to quit and discouraging teens from smoking. If people don't smoke, tobacco companies go out of business. If Philip Morris wanted to be out of the tobacco business, it would get out of the tobacco business. But it isn't out of the tobacco business, so it has a very large financial stake in getting people smoking and keeping them smoking. An effective way to do that would be to, I don't know, maybe increase the amount of nicotine in each cigarette, making that jones that much harder to ignore.

Philip Morris wants people to stop smoking like Oscar Mayer wants people to stop eating hot dogs. The company does PR bullshit like putting quitting tips on its Web site for the same reason it does everything else — to maximize profits. If it weren't for all those expensive lawsuits and the need to help shareholders not feel like they're making money on the suffering of others (which, of course, they are), PM would be handing out free samples on every street corner and every schoolyard, just like any other drug dealer interested in making money.