Up in smoke
Federal health minister Laurette Onkelinx is expected to reject a request from an unidentified tobacco company for permission to put more additives in its cigarettes which would make them more attractive to young people.
Expected, because the decision can only be taken after the minister has referred the request to the Health Council for its expert advice. There’s every likelihood they’ll agree with a refusal, but the rules are the rules.
The company wants to add three new additives: E133, which will cause the cigarette to produce blue smoke, which is thought to be considered cool by young people; E418, which makes tobacco smoke taste less bitter, but which also has a laxative effect; and MCT, or Middle Chain Triglyceride, which has an appetite-suppressing effect. The additives are all approved for use in the EU. E133 is used in ice cream, tinned peas and shampoo; E418 is found in soya milk; and MCT has legitimate medical applications.
However it is the cigarette company’s aims rather than their ingredients that are likely to arouse ministerial opposition. At a time when young people are continuing to buck the trend of giving up smoking, any attempt to attract them to cigarettes would be politically impossible to justify.
Cigarettes already contain up to 499 additives, none of which needs to be listed on the packet as an ingredient, including aldehydes, alcohols and acids, but also liquorice and cocoa. Most are added to the tobacco, but some are used in the filter, paper and even the ink
printed on the cigarette. When burned, they produce up to 4,000 different compounds, some of them extremely toxic – and that’s in addition to the tobacco smoke itself.
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