Larger puffs for light cigarettes
The nation’s largest tobacco company knew as early as the 1970s that smokers of light cigarettes took larger puffs that delivered greater amounts of tar, according to a newly released memo.
The 1975 Philip Morris USA correspondence was released by the Senate Commerce Committee in advance of a hearing today examining the rating system that allows tobacco companies to market cigarettes as regular, light or ultra-light.
The rating system gives smokers a false sense that cigarettes with less tar and nicotine are healthier, according to a memo produced by Democratic congressional staffers.
The Federal Trade Commission allows companies to make statements about tar and nicotine levels as long as they’re based on a standardized system. That system uses a machine that smokes every cigarette the same way.
People, however, don’t smoke the same way. Some breathe in more deeply. Others hold their fingers over the cigarette’s vent holes, which increases smoke intake. Research has shown that smokers of “light” cigarettes take longer, deeper puffs and smoke more cigarettes a day to compensate for the lower level of nicotine.
“In a lot of ways, switching to light cigarettes can be more deadly,” said Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J.
Milwaukee
Abuse case: Nun pleads no contest
A 79-year-old Roman Catholic nun pleaded no contest Monday to indecent behavior with a child for alleged sexual encounters with two male students at a church convent and school where she was principal during the 1960s.
The nun, Norma Giannini, and her attorney left the courthouse without comment after entering the pleas in Milwaukee County Circuit Court on the day her trial was to begin. Giannini faces a maximum 10 years on each of two counts when sentenced Feb. 1.
According to the criminal complaint, the two men - now ages 55 and 53 - told authorities they had dozens of sexual encounters with Giannini, including intercourse, while attending the school.
Giannini, who lives with other Sisters of Mercy in a Chicago suburb, has been retired from active work for five years because of failing health.
Boston
14 injured in fire at 3-story home
A quick-moving blaze consumed a three-story home Monday, sending firefighters scrambling up ladders to pluck screaming children from the top floor and hurting 14 adults and children, authorities said.
Five adults and six children were hospitalized, including a 2-year-old boy whom a firefighter discovered crying on a bed in a smoke-filled room, authorities said. Three other people were treated at the scene.
The Boston Globe reported on its Web site that two of those injured were in critical condition.
Temecula, Calif.
5 deaths possible murder-suicide
A shooting at a house on a quiet suburban cul-de-sac left five people dead in what authorities said could be a murder-suicide.
Police officers responding to a call of shots fired at about 5:20 p.m. Sunday found two men and two women dead at a house on a cul-de-sac, Riverside County sheriff’s Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez said. A fifth victim, a woman, died at a hospital, he said.
Gutierrez said investigators believed one of the victims was also the shooter.
Also
Honolulu: A highly contagious norovirus that causes stomach flu sickened about 220 passengers aboard a Norwegian Cruise Lines ship that returned Monday to Honolulu after its weekly seven-day cruise around the islands, officials said.
New York: About 500 unionized writers, employees of CBS News television and radio, are expected to overwhelmingly approve a strike authorization this week.
Seattle Times news services