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Editor: C. Calvin Warriner
Profession: Cigarette & Tobacco Attorney

Nothing should surprise anyone anymore; at least when it comes to the conduct of Big Tobacco. These companies have spent over 100 years making billions from dealing a drug that some experts believe is more addictive than heroin; a drug that, until recently, was a socially encouraged drug; and a drug that until the 1970's had little or no government oversight.

Now we discover that after being sued repeatedly for negligence, fraud and conspracy, Big Tobacco is at it again; manipulating the levels of nicotine and the addictiveness of their drug. and Tobacco Information.

A recently released Harvard study concludes that cigarette makers have for years increased nicotine levels in cigarettes to make cigarettes more addictive. Dr. Gregory Connolly led the rseaerch at Harvard and said:

"We know from our data that there are intentional design changes that result in more nicotine in smoke that increases the capacity for the cigarette to cause and maintain addiction"

Dr. Gregory Connolly and colleagues, at Harvard University, undertook a far more sophisticated analysis of the underlying data provided by cigarette-makers. The Harvard group found that nicotine yields from smoking had increased an average of 1.6 percent each year from 1998 through 2005.

So why does lawsuit after lawsuit not discourage Big Tobacco from trying to manipulate and control? The answer must be the billions produced through the public's continued addiction to Big Tobacco's drug.

For more on this conduct, see our other blog at these links:

Tobacco Will Kill More People than AIDS by 2015 and Light Cigarettes Sound Better--and That's What Tobacco was Going For! and Tobacco.