Nearly 36 percent of American Spirit smokers believed their brand was as harmful as other brands and less than 1 percent believed their brand was more harmful. Overall, 2.3 percent of smokers reported Natural American Spirit as their usual brand. The smokers also noted how often they think about the harm from their tobacco use and answered questions about their drug or alcohol use as well as their mental and physical health and lifestyles. Participants identified their usual brand of cigarettes and answered questions about whether they thought their brand was more, less or equally harmful compared to other cigarette brands. To determine whether American Spirit smokers view the brand this way, Pearson and her team analyzed data from over 30,000 adult smokers who participated in a national study of Americans and tobacco use in 20. In August 2015, however, the FDA issued a warning letter to Santa Fe Natural and two other tobacco manufacturers, stating that their labeling and advertising of products as “natural” and “additive-free” violates section 911 of the Tobacco Control Act, because it improperly implies that “the tobacco products present a lower risk of tobacco-related disease or is less harmful than one or more other commercially marketed tobacco products,” the study team notes. The packaging also carries the statement, “No additives in our tobacco does NOT mean a safer cigarette.” The product packaging describes them as being “100 percent additive-free” and some products are made with organically-grown tobacco. Natural American Spirit cigarettes and loose tobacco are made by Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, which is owned by Reynolds American. “They believe that their product is less harmful than other brands but there is absolutely no evidence to support that belief,” Pearson told Reuters Health by email. “American Spirit smokers are being misled,” said lead study author Jennifer Pearson, a research investigator at Schroeder Institute for Tobacco Research and Policy Studies at Truth Initiative in Washington, D.C. In a national survey of smokers, almost 64 percent of Natural American Spirit users considered their own brand to be “safer” than other cigarettes, while only 8 percent of those who used other tobacco brands thought this. This raises the concern that people who might otherwise quit smoking might switch to American Spirit instead, thinking they will be safer, the researchers write in the journal Tobacco Control. FILE PHOTO: An ash tray with cigarette butts is pictured in Hinzenbach, Austria, February 5, 2012.
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