Massachusetts to propose smoke toxin rules

Copyright 1998 United Press International August 18, 1998

   The tobacco industry would have to disclose the toxic substances emitted in smoke under new regulations being proposed by Massachusetts. Acting Gov. Paul Cellucci has scheduled a news conference today to detail the proposed rules at the Massachusetts Public Health Council. The council would have to hold public hearings before the proposals could be implemented. The tobacco industry is expected to challenge any effort to force it to disclose toxins in cigarette smoke. The Boston Globe says Cellucci's proposal is an attempt to get around lawsuits filed by the industry to block the state's first-in-the-nation tobacco ingredient disclosure law. The new rules would require makers of cigarettes sold in Massachusetts to list by brand the toxins released in the smoke, such as ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, mercury, tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide. Earlier this year the tobacco industry won an injunction against the state's law requiring tobacco makers to disclose the ingredients they put into their products. The industry argued that to do so would force it to disclose trade secrets. State Attorney General Scott Harshbarger says he will defend any challenge to the proposed regulations. He said, "I'd love to see the tobacco industry try to argue that the poison produced by their products are trade secrets."

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