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THE WEEKEND OUTLOOK Friday June 1991 Page Research Foundation keeping eye on cigarette makers Picking up a pair of tweezers Nolte selects a cigarette from a tray With a pen she marks it three millimetres from the filter tip and then inserts the cigarette into a panel on the front of the Filtrona a Britishmade smoking machine The machine is worth about its job is to measure the tar nicotine and carbon monoxide levels of various cigarette brands This machine at the Addiction Research Foundation Tobacco PLUMBING SUPPLIES Acrylic Bath Shower Units Whirlpools Spas Pedestals Vanities Medicine Cabinets Science Laboratory is the same kind used by tobacco manufac turers the standards for humidi ty and air quality in the lab are also identical The room which houses the machine is from the rest of the Foundations ventilation system and is entered through two separate doors to maintain the strict air quality standards in this lab Its very humid now and Noltes fingers leave prints on the counter as she moves a tray The HERMANS cigarettes themselves are selected from thousands of the brand being tested and then humidified and weighed to com pile a test sample Nolte continues inserting cigarettes until eight are lined up in the cylinders on the panel The clear plastic cylinders are yellowed as are the eight plastic bags which trap the fumes when the cigarettes arelit Thats from the nicotine says Just like smokers 8772293 4538911 feOflCGLL ILS PLUMBING SHOWROOM Ave Georgetown SIDING SOFFITS FASCIA Aluminum and Vinyl 5 Inch Seamless Eavestrough Replacement Windows and Doors 4572134 OR 8731951 AND SPAS NOT JUST ANOTHER HOLE IN THE GROUND Custom Designed Pools Spos Pool Renovations Coping Pointing etc Pool Spa Maintenance Phone or ans include all exteriors shown sqft LANGILLE WELL DRILLING 5 6 Diameter Cable Drilling Pump Sales Service 8778329 DREAMSCAPE 8731917 ROBERT FREESTONE CONSTRUCTION LTD Residential Commercial Projects To Your Specifications or Ours 8772698 gingers Nolte threads a length of or dinary sewing cotton around the cigarettes so the thread touches the mark drawn above the filters She checks a row of gauges and presses a button An arm attach ed to the machine moves for ward Car cigarette lighters mounted- on the arm light the cigarettes simultaneously pulls the arm back and the cigarette tips glow red for a moment as the machine takes its Tfc IK It J FINISH CARPENTER Exterior Renovations Custom Trim CALL DALE AT Bus WATER PUMP Sales Service anuria Ltd Erin Hilton BOYES PLUMBING 8554232 Brokers Mounting Monthly Debit Planning Improvement To Your Home Call Us For Alt Your Mortgage Needs CORES WELL DRILLING Wonting complete water systems installed 8784515 AND REPAIRS Interior Exterior Repairs ReRoofs Siding Shingling Soffit Fascia FREE ESTIMATES 8751263 AMLY CUSTOM HOMES All Phases of General Contracting Complete Homes or Basement Frame Package Labour All Material Supplied 8736104 PLEASE LEAVE MESSAGE Representing kitchens A Touch KITCHEN SHPWROCM INC mile south or ACTON 8534577 first puff It will take a carefully calibrated puff once every minute until the cigarettes burn down to the sewing thread when the individual portholes automatically shut off Thats it Nolte says Well have to wait a couple of minutes until theyre done Dr Rick is head of the Addiction Research Foundations biomedical tobacco research department The reason we have to regulate the conditions in the lab so carefully is because its critical that everyone do these tests under the same conditions A cigarette will burn much faster in a dry room for example than in this lab So by law all manufacturers adhere to the same standards The Foundation purchased the machine courtesy of a grant from the World Health Organization uses it not only to keep a vigilant eye on the claims of cigarettemakers about the levels of tar and nicotine in their brands but to analyze the structure and functioning of cigarettes as theyre normally smoked Different cigarette brands yield different mis of nicotine This takes the cigarette down or 11- millimetre butt and collects the residue from the smoke on pad Here Ill show you one of these pads after the cigarettes finish ed He takes a tray of test tubes down from a rack Each one con tains a cotton pad immersed in a clear liquid A thick layer of brown silt has settled to the bot tom of the tube and the pad itself is heavily stained The liquids It dissolves the nicotine and the moisture from the pad Pretty stuff isnt it Indeed its a sight to make a heavy smoker quit on the spot Thats from five cigarettes of a particular brand says Weve tested other brands from around the world that deliver even more tar and nicotine than this one A study undertaken in in collaboration with the World Health Organization compared the tar and carbon monoxide yields of cigarettes in a number of developing countries with those sold inNorth America Bri tain and Europe At that time manufacturers werent required to list the con tents of cigarettes sold in most of these countries and WHO was concerned that the tobacco in dustry might try to manipulate consumption by introducing more potent cigarettes We didnt actually find much of a difference between Marlboros sold here for example and the ones sold in South America But it was shortly thereafter that the tobacco in dustry responded to growing pressure and began listing the nicotine tar and carbon monox ide content on all their packages Currently the Foundations smoking machine is used mostly for routine requests for cigaret tes analysis by the World Health Organization Weve certainly come across some odd ones from time to time says I remember a brand called legates it contained no nicotine at all though it did have a relatively high tar yield I can on ly guess tht it wasnt made from real tobacco As smokers go she says this machine is actually a pretty light smoker When were beginning a test run itll smoke about cigarettes in a day but com pleting the run takes another two weeks If you compare that with a packaday smoker who smokes about 600 cigarettes a month youre looking at a machine with moderate habit And herself does she smoke Not a chance she says But its kind of hard to keep up the image when people see me running around with car tons of cigarettes under my arm