Were asbestos-filtered Kent cigarettes sold in Australia?

Our plain-English summary of Were asbestos-filtered Kent cigarettes sold in Australia?, by S. Chapman, A. Heidemann, S. Woodward (Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 1996).

The study

• Authors: S. Chapman, A. Heidemann, S. Woodward
• Journal: Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health
• Published: 1996;20(2):218-9
• Type of article: Letter
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This was a letter to the editor, not a study of patients. The authors asked whether Kent cigarettes with 'Micronite' filters containing crocidolite (blue asbestos), sold in the United States in the 1950s, were also sold in Australia. They searched Australian patent records (1956 to 1964), trade mark registrations, and The Retail Tobacconist trade magazine (1952 to 1960). They also checked telephone directories and calls to the ABC after a television report. Lorillard registered Kent with the Micronite filter in Australia on 23 December 1953 and withdrew the registration on 22 September 1966. The magazine first listed Kent in October 1959, and in May 1960 it called Kent 'this well-known brand'. The authors noted the magazine had refused to list some imported brands. Two viewers phoned the ABC: one said St James Tobacco Company produced Kent in the 1950s, the other that Kent was produced in Collingwood, Victoria. The authors concluded that it seemed possible Kent, possibly including leftover US stock with crocidolite filters, was sold in Australia. The letter did not establish this; the authors asked readers for more information.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Letter to the editor reporting a search of historical records (patents, trade marks, trade magazine price lists, directories, broadcaster call logs)
• Who was studied: No human study population. The authors examined Australian records: patent proceedings for 1956 to 1964, trade mark registrations, The Retail Tobacconist issues from 1952 to 1960, Telstra telephone directories, and ABC switchboard reports from October 1995
• Exposure: Kent cigarettes with the 'Micronite' filter made with crocidolite (blue asbestos), supplied by Hollingsworth & Vose for Kent from 1952 to 1956
• Main results:
  • Lorillard registered Kent with the Micronite filter in Australia on 23 December 1953 and withdrew it on 22 September 1966, 10 years after it stopped selling crocidolite-filtered Kent in the United States
  • The first listing for Kent in The Retail Tobacconist was found in October 1959
  • In May 1960 the Australian distributor reduced Kent's price. The magazine described Kent as 'this well-known brand', which the authors took to suggest it had been on the market for some time.
  • Cigarette filter patents of interest found in the patent search described filters using zeolite combined with cellulose acetate, and filters using finely ground aluminium
  • After an ABC 7.30 Report segment, the switchboard logged two calls from viewers. One said St James Tobacco Company produced Kent in the 1950s, and the other said Kent was produced in Collingwood, Victoria.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that it was possible Kent cigarettes were sold in Australia in the 1950s. They also considered it possible that leftover crocidolite-filtered US stock was exported to Australia after 1956. They asked readers for more information.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The trade magazine had a history of refusing to list some imported brands, so the absence of earlier listings does not show that Kent was absent from the market

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Crocidolite.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Kent cigarettes.

Related studies

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• Pleural mesothelioma in a woman whose documented past exposure to asbestos was from smoking asbestos-containing filtered cigarettes: the comparative value of analytical transmission electron microscopic analysis of lung and lymph-node tissue — R.F. Dodson, S.P. Hammar (2006)
• Testimony by otolaryngologists in defense of tobacco companies 2009-2014 — R.K. Jackler (2015)
• Effects of asbestos and smoking on the levels and rates of change of lung function in a crocidolite exposed cohort in Western Australia — H.S. Alfonso, L. Fritschi, et al. (2004)
• Epidemiology of malignant mesothelioma in Australia — A.W. Musk, N.H. de Klerk (2004)
• Retinol supplementation and mesothelioma incidence in workers earlier exposed to blue asbestos (Crocidolite) at Wittenoom, Western Australia — H.S. Alfonso, A. Reid, et al. (2010)

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