WASHINGTON Cigarettes made with modified tobacco or designed to burn at low temperatures do not necessarily deliver on promises to make smoking safer and may even be dangerous, a panel of experts said.

And aids meant to help people kick the habit, such as nicotine patches, gum and antidepressants, may have their own side effects, according to a committee, appointed to advise the government.

They urged the industry, government and independent researchers to do more studies to show whether the products reduce the toxins that smokers take in -- or encourage people to smoke more because it seems less dangerous.

They also recommended legislation that would tighten federal regulation of all tobacco products.

"None of these products has been proven to be effective in reducing harm," Dr. Stuart Bondurant, a professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina who chaired the panel, told a news conference.

Bondurant and colleagues appointed by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), one of the national academies of sciences, were asked by the FDA to look at the claims of such products in 1999. They conclude that it is hard to say whether they work.

They did not look at specific products, such as Reynolds tobacco holdings co.'s low-temperature eclipse cigarette or one made by vector group Ltd. that allegedly contains lower levels of cancer-causing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), but rather at the class as a whole.

"It is not safe to use these products because they expose people to tobacco-containing smoke," bondurant said. "You should not be using any tobacco product."

Several studies suggest that low-tar or light cigarettes are no such thing.

Smokers Puff Harder on "Lights"

"Essentially, people smoke to maintain a certain level of nicotine in their blood," said Dr. Peter Shields, a professor at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington. "When they go to low-nicotine cigarettes, they suck harder and they smoke more. We know that people are overcompensating."

The researchers said they were worried that some people may get the idea that there are safe cigarettes.

Shields said this panel did not want to mislead anyone. "We have to say to consumers you are kind of on your own'," he said. "Some people crave nicotine forever and if they thought there was a safe cigarette, they'd be back smoking like that," Shields added, snapping his fingers.

The IOM committee also looked at products designed to help smokers quit, such as nicotine patches, inhalers and nasal sprays, drugs such as antidepressants and medicines that interfere with the effects of nicotine.

Dorothy Hatsukami, a tobacco researcher at the University of Minnesota, said many people use nicotine replacement devices such as patches and continue to smoke. "Some studies show they do reduce smoking levels, but we don't know whether that translates into a reduced disease risk," she said.

As for nicotine replacement products, she said, "We don't know the long-term effects of these products."

About 47 million Americans, or a quarter of the adult population, smoke. While 70 percent say they want to quit, only three percent manage it each year. Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer, the most common form of cancer, and heart disease -- the two biggest killers in developed countries.

"Big Tobacco has deceived the American public for 50 years about the health risks posed by its products, resulting in a public health epidemic that kills more than 400,000 Americans every year," Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said in a statement.

"This report makes it clear that, absent effective federal regulation of tobacco, the tobacco industry's introduction of allegedly reduced risk' products leaves Americans unprotected from new deceptions that would cost even more lives."

Myers said Congress should pass a law giving the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco. Last year the Supreme Court struck down the FDA's self-declared authority to regulate tobacco, Congress had to give the agency such clout.

(Reuter)