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]
From 1970, I spent six years on the NSM project in a variety of roles.
Annex A The Independent Scientific Committee on Smoking and Health
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]
From 1970, I spent six years on the NSM project in a variety of roles.
Annex A The Independent Scientific Committee on Smoking and Health