Smoking low tar cigarettes does not reduce the risk of lung cancer, and smokers are at higher risk than non-smokers. In a prospective cohort study from the United States, Harris and colleagues (p 72) followed up more than 940 000 people for six years; 25% of them were smokers. They found that the risk of dying from lung cancer was the same for smokers of very low tar (≤ 7 mg tar/cigarette), low tar (8-14 mg), and medium tar (15-21 mg) filter cigarettes. People smoking high tar non-filter cigarettes were at an even greater risk, and only those who quit smoking or never smoked had a significantly lower risk of lung cancer.
Figure 1.
