By Geesche Jacobsen

An Australian cigarette company knew for more than 20 years that its
tobacco contained high levels of DDT and other dangerous pesticides,
industry documents reveal.

The Federal Government was also aware that pesticide levels far
Exceeded those in British and US samples, but disregarded a recommendation by its own agency to set limits for chemicals in tobacco.

Instead, it abandoned its only test on cigarettes for tar and nicotine
levels and left the industry to regulate itself. The Government also
rejected consumer calls for disclosure of all cigarette ingredients,
similar to food label requirements.

Tobacco samples tested for Philip Morris Australia in 1978 showed DDT
levels 40 times higher than German limits, its internal documents say.
As late as the early 1990s, the company's testing found residue of DDT,
dichloran and maleic hydrazide - all forms of pesticides - above German
or US limits, according to Simon Chapman, of Sydney University's School
of Public Health. But the company issued no health warnings or product
recalls, he said.

Professor Chapman has been searching for Australian references in the 7
million tobacco industry documents posted on the internet after a 1998
US court case. His latest findings will appear in the Tobacco Control
Journal.

Asked about the present use of pesticides, Philip Morris spokesman
Colin Lippiatt said it had guidelines about the "judicious use" of crop
protection agents on imported tobacco.

In 1981, a report by the National Health and Medical Research Council
warned that pesticide residues exceeding those in overseas cigarettes
were "likely to increase the known adverse effects of inhaling tobacco
smoke" and ordered an investigation. It never took place.

In 1985, the Department of Primary Industry recommended that the
government set upper limits for the agricultural chemical content of
tobacco. But the government set no restrictions on cigarette
ingredients, and they are not regulated.

Instead, the government and the industry agreed to voluntary disclosure
of some of the ingredients in a cigarette, but not the residues in the
tobacco and the chemicals in the smoke.

But European producers have had to disclose all ingredients, justify
their use and explain their health impacts since January. Disclosure is
also required in parts of Canada and in Thailand.

A Health Department spokesman said it had extended the scheme until
December next year, but was "considering options for future disclosure
requirements".

A co-director of the VicHealth Centre for Tobacco Control, Ron Borland,
said many of the ingredients Australian consumers were not told of
might be harmful.

"We now have cigarettes that taste better, are smoother and less harsh
to smoke and would be described by the tobacco industry as higher
quality. It is now easier to smoke something that kills half its
long-term users," he said.

But Dr Borland said the harmful effects of tobacco itself were of most
concern.

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