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What's in your cigarette?
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August 5, 1996: 3:51 p.m. ET
New Massachusetts law mandates listing of cigarette additives
From Correspondent Allan Dodds Frank
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) -- In an effort to uncover how much nicotine each cigarette delivers, Massachusetts Gov. William Weld has signed the first state law aimed at forcing tobacco companies to reveal what additives manufacturers put in cigarettes.
For decades, tobacco companies have fought efforts to force disclosure of the ingredients added to cigarettes.
They argue that just as the formulas for Coke, Pepsi and even Kentucky Fried Chicken are trade secrets, so too are the chemicals manufacturers add to cigarettes to control flavor and smoke rates.
In response to such arguments, Massachusetts' new law only requires disclosure of ingredients by weight, measure or numerical count -- in other words, the ingredients, but not the recipe.
Still, tobacco companies waited less than 20 minutes to file suit in federal court, seeking to have the law struck down.
Martin Feldman, a tobacco-industry analyst with Smith Barney, dismissed the new law "yet another emotional forum for the anti-tobacco lobby to attack.
"It keeps the tobacco industry in the news," he said. "I think that in some respects, that is more important than the merits of the actual case."
Still, several other states could soon pass ingredient-disclosure laws, hoping that cigarette demand will drop if consumers learn exactly what they're smoking. 
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