Interest in “organic,” “natural,” and “additive-free” cigarettes after hearing about toxic chemicals in cigarette smoke

Abstract

Introduction The US Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act requires the government to disseminate information about the toxic chemicals in cigarette smoke. We sought to understand how the descriptors “organic,” “natural,” or “additive-free” affect smokers’ interest in cigarettes in the context of information about chemicals in cigarette smoke. Methods Participants were a national probability sample of 1,101 US adult (ages 18) smokers recruited in 2014–2015. A between-subjects experiment randomized participants in a telephone survey to 1 of 4 cigarette descriptors: “organic,” “natural,” “additive-free,” or “ultralight” (control). The outcome was expected interest in cigarettes with the experimentally assigned descriptor, after learning that 2 chemicals (hydrogen cyanide and lead) are in cigarette smoke. Experimental data analysis was conducted in 2016–2017. Results Smokers indicated greater expected interest in “organic,” “natural,” and “additive-free” cigarettes than “ultra-light” cigarettes (all p