Major Recall of Cigarettes Is Launched
Philip Morris, the tobacco industry giant that long has insisted on the safety of cigarettes, launched a massive recall Friday involving its top-selling brands, saying defective filters could cause dizziness and irritation.
The company said it had asked retailers to remove from their shelves many lines of its Marlboro, Benson & Hedges, Merit, Virginia Slims and Basic brands, among others. Officials said the number of cigarettes to be destroyed would reach the “low billions” and that the recall could cost the company $200 million.
For New York-based Philip Morris, the world’s No. 1 tobacco marketer, the announcement of what industry observers said was the first cigarette recall ever clearly was a huge embarrassment.
And it gave public health advocates and other industry critics a chance to make the company the butt of their sharpest barbs.
“It’s really silly. Cigarettes are inherently dangerous. They should all be recalled, because they give people cancer--even nonsmokers,” said Kevin C. Goebel, a lobbyist for Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights, a Berkeley-based advocacy group.
Stanton A. Glantz, a tobacco industry critic and professor of medicine at UC San Francisco, added: “The question I’d have for them is, ‘Is the substance they found more toxic than regular cigarette smoke itself?’ It’s hard to believe it could be.”
For their part, Philip Morris officials said they were acting out of “an abundance of caution.”
The company said the problem was because of contamination of a material known as a plasticizer used to strengthen cigarette filters. The contamination at Philip Morris’ three U.S. plants triggered a reaction that formed a substance in the filters known as methyl isothiocyanate, or MITC.
Scientific references say that in animals, MITC--which is used as a pesticide--causes corneal, liver and kidney damage. Little is known about its toxicity in humans.
According to Philip Morris, continued use of cigarettes contaminated with MITC “could result in temporary discomfort, including eye, nose and throat irritation, dizziness, coughing and wheezing.” The company added that “pregnant women and persons suffering from respiratory conditions should avoid exposure” to the chemical.
The warnings, involving a product reviled by public health advocates, struck Glantz as “sort of bizarre.” Even without MITC, he said, “cigarettes already cause eye irritation--it’s well-documented.”
Nicotine, Glantz noted, is sometimes used as an insecticide. “Are they going to recall all cigarettes because they have nicotine in them?” he asked rhetorically.
A Philip Morris spokeswoman, Karen Daragan, fired back that “there’s no reason why this should affect the regulation of our product.”
Said Daragan: “This was a freak occurrence. We acted quickly, voluntarily and we have no reason to believe this won’t be successful.”
Evidence of the contamination initially turned up May 19, company officials said, when a strange odor was detected in the materials used to make filters.
Initially, the company said, it placed all cigarettes it believed to be affected in storage. But on Thursday the company determined that additional filters also contaminated with MITC did not have a noticeable odor.
So while Philip Morris officials said the company had received no complaints from consumers or retailers, they decided on the voluntary recall Friday after concluding they could not be certain that none of the tainted cigarettes were being offered for sale.
Company officials said the recall involves 36 of the 238 “packings,” or styles, of its cigarettes sold in the United States.
Philip Morris will cover the expense from its reserves. The firm reported $11.1 billion in revenue from domestic tobacco sales last year and accounted for nearly 45% of U.S. cigarette sales.
Consumers are being asked to return packs of the involved brands to retailers for refunds. In turn, retailers were told to quit selling cigarettes in the affected packages immediately, pending visits from Philip Morris salespeople.
By late Friday afternoon in Southern California, not all retailers were aware of the recall. Those that had heard the news, however, quickly began removing the cigarettes from their shelves.
At the Vons Cos. supermarket chain, spokeswoman Julie Reynolds said managers expected “all Philip Morris products that have been recalled to be removed from our shelves by [Friday] evening.”
Times staff writers George White in Los Angeles and John O’Dell in Orange County contributed to this story.
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On the Recall List
Philip Morris USA is recalling cigarettes sold in 36 package styles because some may contain defective filters:
* Marlboro Red Box, Marlboro Red Soft Pack, Marlboro 100’s Gold Box, Marlboro 100’s Gold Soft Pack, Marlboro Lights Gold Box, Marlboro Lights Gold Soft Pack, Marlboro Lights 100’s Gold Box, Marlboro Lights 100’s Gold Soft Pack.
* Marlboro Menthol Soft Pack, Marlboro Lights Menthol Box, Marlboro Lights Menthol 100’s Box, Benson & Hedges 100’s Soft Pack, Benson & Hedges 100’s Menthol Box, Benson & Hedges Lights 100’s Soft Pack, Merit 100’s Soft Pack and Merit Ultra Lights King Size Soft Pack.
* Virginia Slims 100’s, Virginia Slims 100’s Lights Menthol, Virginia Slims Lights 120’s, Virginia Slims Ultra Lights 100’s, Virginia Slims Ultra Lights Menthol 100’s, Virginia Slims Super Slims, Basic 100s, Basic 100’s Menthol, Basic Lights 100’s.
* Basic Lights King Size, Basic Ultra Lights King Size, Cambridge Lights 100’s, Cambridge Ultra Lights 100’s, Alpine Lights 100’s Soft Pack, Bristol Lights 100’s, Premium Buy Lights 100’s, Premium Buy Lights King Size Menthol, Best Buy King Size Full Flavor, Shield King Size Full Flavor, Bronson King Size Full Flavor.
SOURCE: Associated Press
