HARMLESS CIGARETTE



A cigarette aimed at being less harmful to health is being sold to American smokers. The Eclipse cigarette is being marketed to a select set of people in Texas, and over the internet.

It is lit in the normal way, but instead of burning fully, the tobacco in the cigarette is primarily heated instead of burned, so 90 percent less second-hand smoke filters into the air and 75 percent fewer cancer-causing agents enter the body.

The advertising campaign for the Eclipse cigarette will say that while the best choice for smokers concerned about health is to quit, the next best choice is to smoke "safer" cigarettes.

RJ Reynolds, the company behind Eclipse, marketed a no-smoke cigarette called Premier several years ago, but consumers rejected it because they did not like the taste. While Eclipse is based on an identical principle as Premier, its design is essentially different. For example, Premier contained an aluminum capsule that held and released glycerin and flavorings, while Eclipse does not.

In addition, Premier burned no tobacco whatsoever, while Eclipse does burn a small amount. Although the Eclipse cigarette burns a small amount of tobacco, its smoke chemistry is much simpler than that of current, tobacco-burning cigarettes. In addition, the company says the biological activity of the smoke, as assessed by a battery of toxicological assays, is greatly reduced.