Sep. 3, 2008 While jams and other consumer products are strictly
regulated and are required to pass stringent tests before they
can be sold, tobacco has no restrictions and manufacturers can,
and do, add anything they want into the product. A new editorial
discusses the issues surrounding tobacco regulations and how the
industry could be more effectively governed. “The establishment
of regulation is a political process and occurs slowly. However,
with the gradual but prolonged and massive epidemic of tobacco-
related diseases, regulation of the industry’s products –
specifically the constituents of tobacco smoke – has to begin
now”, says author Dr. Nigel Gray, member of the World Health
Organization’s (WHO) Tobacco Regulation Study Group.* Despite
the complexities of regulating cigarette manufacturing, the
Tobacco Regulation Study Group, or TobReg, has proposed
practical means to begin the progressive process of tobacco
regulation. As a first step, it has suggested setting mandatory
levels for some of the majo