New Smoking Material was a £7 million product development project run by Imperial Tobacco and Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) mainly in the 1970s intended to reduce the harmful content of cigarette smoke.[1][2][3] Research and commercialisation was done under a joint company New Smoking Materials Ltd (incorporated 1957, dissolved 2012).[4] The term, or its abbreviations N.S.M. or NSM, were also used for products used or intended to be used as a partial replacement for tobacco in cigarettes as a result of this or research by other companies.

The material was modified cellulose (which is a major constituent of tobacco).[2] Three companies produced rival products: in the USA Celanese, brand name Cytrel, in the UK ICI, brand name NSM, and Courtaulds brand name Tabrelle, but only Cytrel and NSM went to market,[5] in July 1977.[6] Four companies produced cigarettes mainly containing 25% new smoking material: Gallaher (which had one product with 40%), Rothmans International, W.D. & H.O. Wills, and John Player & Sons.[5]

The two products Cytrel and NSM were judged less harmful than tobacco and approved by a special government committee, the Independent Scientific Committee on Smoking and Health,[7] which was formed in 1973 and as its first action produced guidelines for the testing of tobacco substitutes and additives.[8] However, there was a public outcry when it was revealed that the research involved animal experiments in which beagles were made to inhale tobacco smoke, or the substitute tobacco smoke, or a mixture of the two, at the equivalent of 30 cigarettes per day for several years.[3][9][10]

Sales of the new cigarettes peaked at about 4% of UK sales shortly after launch, but dropped to 0.6% six months later, far below the expectations of Imperial, which had constructed a £15 million factory to produce 15% of the UK market.[1]

Imperial finally closed the factory making NSM in 1981.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 Wilkins, Christopher (8 February 1978). "Imperial's hopes for NSM go up in smoke". The Times. London. p. 17.
  2. 1 2 Anonymous (2 June 1973). "New Smoking Material". The Lancet: 1226.
  3. 1 2 Calder, Alan (18 May 2013). "NSM New Smoking Material". alancalderwriting.blogspot.com. Alan Calder. Retrieved 24 October 2022. From 1970, I spent six years on the NSM project in a variety of roles.
  4. ↑ "New Smoking Materials Ltd". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Companies House. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
  5. 1 2 Tisdall, Patricia (20 June 1977). "Substitute tobacco: who will be the winners when the smoke clears?". The Times. London. p. 19.
  6. ↑ New Smoking Materials Ltd (3 June 1977). "What every cigarette smoker should know about NSM". The Times. London. p. 3.
  7. ↑ Hodgkinson, Neville (1 April 1977). "Tobacco substitutes in cigarettes approved". The Times. London.
  8. ↑ "Report of the Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health" (PDF). assets.publishing.service.gov.uk. The Stationery Office. 1998. Retrieved 24 October 2022. Annex A The Independent Scientific Committee on Smoking and Health
  9. ↑ "Beagle smoking tests to go on". The Guardian. London. 12 December 1975. p. 23.
  10. ↑ "British Chemical Firm Defends Smoking Tests forced on Dogs". International Herald Tribune (European Edition). Paris. 3 April 1975.
  11. ↑ Griffiths, Gareth (29 November 1980). "Imperial Tobacco to stop making smoking substitute". Financial Times. London. p. 3.
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