Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Aug 14;20(9):1047-1054.
doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntx109.

Effective Message Elements for Disclosures About Chemicals in Cigarette Smoke

Dannielle E Kelley  1 , Marcella H Boynton  2   3 , Seth M Noar  1   3 , Jennifer C Morgan  2 , Jennifer R Mendel  3 , Kurt M Ribisl  2   3 , Irina Stepanov  4 , Leena A Nylander-French  5 , Noel T Brewer  2   3
Affiliations

Effective Message Elements for Disclosures About Chemicals in Cigarette Smoke

Dannielle E Kelley et al. Nicotine Tob Res. .

Abstract

Introduction: Cigarette smoke contains at least 93 chemicals or "constituents" that the Food and Drug Administration has identified as harmful and potentially harmful constituents to human health. Our study sought to identify which constituent disclosure message elements are most effective in discouraging people from smoking.

Methods: Three hundred eighty eight current smokers aged 18 and older completed an online survey in February 2015. We randomized participants to respond to one of two sets of 13 toxic products that contain cigarette constituents and 25 health effects associated with cigarette constituents.

Results: Products that elicited the most discouragement were those with lower chances of exposure (e.g., explosives), followed by products with possible exposure (e.g., rat poison), and products with a high likelihood of exposure (e.g., floor cleaner). Awareness of toxic products that constituents are found in (p < .001) and low exposure products (p < .001) were associated with higher discouragement. Health effects that people had heard are caused by cigarette smoke constituents elicited higher discouragement from smoking cigarettes (p < .001). Cancer was associated with higher discouragement relative to respiratory, cardiovascular, and reproductive health effects (all p < .001).

Conclusions: Cigarette smoke constituent messages may be more effective at discouraging smoking if they include information about carcinogenic health effects (e.g., mouth cancer and lung tumors) and low exposure toxic products (e.g., explosives and radioactive material) as message elements.

Implications: Our study identified health effects and toxic products, especially cancers and rarely encountered toxic products, that may discourage smoking when included in disclosure messages. By constructing messages that communicate the harms associated with tobacco use by contextualizing those harms in terms of specific constituents, tobacco education messaging efforts may be increasingly successful.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; 2014.
    1. Xu X, Bishop EE, Kennedy SM, Simpson SA, Pechacek TF. Annual healthcare spending attributable to cigarette smoking: an update. Am J Prev Med. 2015;48(3):326–333. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rodgman A, Perfetti TA.. The Chemical Components of Tobacco and Tobacco Smoke. Boca Raton, FL: CRC press; 2013.
    1. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “Harmful and potentially harmful constituents in tobacco products and tobacco smoke; established list.” Fed Regist 2012; 77(64): 20034–20037.
    1. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. Public Law. 2009;111:31.

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources