Addicted to deception Tobacco industry hasn't kicked bad marketing habits

Anyone who thinks the tobacco industry's tradition of sleazy death-dealing is a thing of the past should check out a new study by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

Cigarettes became more addictive from 1998 to 2004, as nicotine levels increased by 10 percent.

The most popular brands with young people -- Marlboro, Newport and Camel -- delivered significantly more nicotine than in the past.

Nicotine jumped 20 percent in Kool, one of the menthol brands preferred by most African-American smokers.

The big three cigarette makers had no response to this new evidence that the industry is still manipulating nicotine levels to hook more young people and minorities and to make it harder for smokers to quit.

The data for the study were submitted by the cigarette manufacturers as required by a Massachusetts law. Most of the tests were done by a Canadian lab that simulates the way people smoke.

The study comes on the heels of U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler's order that the industry quit deceiving the public with cigarette labels such as "light" and "low tar."

Kessler found the industry was guilty of civil racketeering but was blocked by an appeals court ruling from punishing the liars with the $200 million-plus fine sought by federal prosecutors.

So the tobacco industry maintains its unique status, free to market a deadly addictive product to Americans under less government scrutiny than the makers of a granola bar.