Black Market Tobacco 'More Damaging'

Source from:  news.com.au By Tamara McLean July 07, 2008 07/08/2008

PEOPLE addicted to black market tobacco are more likely to have bad lungs and other physical ills than those whose smoke the legal variety, a new study shows. Smokers of so-called chop-chop widely believe the unbranded loose tobacco is "healthier" because it does not contain the same chemicals as commercial cigarettes. "We now have a fairly good indication that that's really not the case," says Campbell Aitken, from the Burnet Institute in Melbourne. "In fact people who smoke chop-chop seem to have significantly worse health than smokers of licit tobacco who, as we well know, already have worse health than non-smokers." Sold under the counter through tobacconists and markets in poorer suburbs and on the internet, chop-chop is about a quarter the price of commercial tobacco. The survey, released at a national public health conference in Brisbane today, shows that about seven per cent of Australian smokers usually smoke this variety, while a quarter said they had tried it at least once. Dr Aitken said this estimate was conservative as those believed to most widely smoke the product, younger people and the homeless, were poorly represented in the phone survey of 1500 smokers. Those who had smoked it had started smoking at an earlier age, smoked more heavily and had worse mental health, physical health, and poorer social functioning. Dr Aitken said while chop-chop smokers tended to have a lower socio-economic status, this alone did not account for their poorer health. "We can't say exactly what is responsible but there are some issues with chop-chop that suggest the tobacco itself could be contributing to their poorer health," Dr Aitken said. It was possible the product could be cut with other substances like hay, bark, or more harsh materials, that could cause health problems, he said. "It is also often sold quite moist, making it a potential breeding ground for fungi that can cause lung problems," the researcher said. The report calls for a targeted campaign that urges smokers away from illicit tobacco but, says Dr Aitken, this would not be ideal. "I hate to encourage people to stick to (commercially-made) cigarettes when these too have terrible, although less damaging, effects on the body," he said. A tax office report from 2004/05 estimated that the illegal tobacco industry cost the country $98 million annually - a 56 per cent increase on three years earlier. Enditem