[Reader-list] Cigarettes may contain pig blood: Australian expert

[Pawan Durani]

Source : http://story.pakistantelegraph.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/8c3d7d78943a99c7/id/618535/cs/1/

Cigarettes may contain traces of pig blood which, if confirmed, can
lead to protests against tobacco companies that refuse to disclose the
ingredients used in making the product, an Australian expert was
quoted by Pakistan's Online news agency as saying.

A study conducted in the Netherlands has identified 185 different
industrial uses of the pig, including the use of its haemoglobin in
cigarette filters, which religious groups could find to be 'very
offensive', Simon Chapman, professor of public health at the
University of Sydney, said here Wednesday.

The research offered an insight into the 'otherwise secretive world'
of cigarette manufacture and was likely to raise concerns for devout
Muslims and Jews, Chapman said.

Religious texts at the core of both of these faiths specifically ban
the consumption of pork, he said.

'I think that there would be some particularly devout groups who would
find the idea that there were pig products in cigarettes to be very
offensive.

'The Jewish community certainly takes these matters extremely
seriously and the Islamic community certainly do as well, as would
many vegetarians. It just puts into hard relief the problem that the
tobacco industry is not required to declare the ingredients of
cigarettes... they say 'that's our business' and a trade secret,' he
said.

The research found out that haemoglobin (a blood protein) from pigs
was being used to make cigarette filters more effective at trapping
harmful chemicals before they could enter a smoker's lungs.

Though tobacco companies list the contents of their products on their
websites, they also refer to undisclosed 'processing aids' that are
not significantly present in, and do not functionally affect, the
finished product, he said.

This term hides from public view an array of chemicals and other
substances used in the making of tobacco products, he said.

At least one cigarette brand sold in Greece was confirmed as using pig
haemoglobin in its processes, he said.