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

[Partha Dasgupta]

Don't think the "particularly devout groups" would approve of smoking in any
case...

Partha Dasgupta
+919811047132


On Thu, Apr 1, 2010 at 2:23 PM, Pawan Durani <pawan.durani at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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.
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