Star to Use, but Not Tout, Carcinogen-Lowering ProcessStar Scientific next month will be among the first tobacco companies to offer cigarettes with reduced carcinogens at retail when it begins phasing into its four discount brands--Gunsmoke, Vegas, Main Street and Sport--tobacco processed through a patented two-step curing process that reduces nitrosamines, the most abundant and powerful carcinogen in tobacco and tobacco smoke. Within three years, every cigarette from the Petersburg, Va., manufacturer will contain the specially cured tobacco, and major player Brown & Williamson has contracted to use Star-cured tobacco in some of its cigarettes.Trade sources said Star''s move anticipates what is regarded by some as the inevitable move in Washington to put regulation of the industry under the Food and Drug Administration. The expectation is that, just as labels tell consumers how many grams of polyunsaturated fat are in a bowl of cereal, smokers someday will see cigarette packaging disclosing the quantity of toxins in their favorite brands. However, Star will not flag these changes in packaging or ads until more science is available to convince the FDA and Federal Trade Commission about the benefits.

This summer Philip Morris, which supplies about half of America''s cigarettes with its Marlboro, Benson & Hedges, Merit, Virginia Slims, Parliament and Basic brands, introduced the Accord battery-powered cigarette, a pricey gadget that reduces sidestream smoke, ashes and most lingering odor. For $40, consumers get a carton of specially made cigarettes, a battery charger, an instructional video and a "puff-activated" electronic lighter that holds the cigarette and allows smokers to wait hours between puffs. Since Accord burns at a lower temperature than normal cigarettes, it could introduce fewer harmful chemicals to the body, but the packaging currently does not make health claims. The high-tech smoke is not blowing their socks off, spokespeople say, but they plan to keep working on it and expanding awareness through direct-mail of the product, which has been five years and over $200 million in the making.A reduced-smoke cigarette is also in the works for B&W, a company representative said, but additional details were not available at press time.

Star will not position its brands as safe cigarettes because there is no such thing, said Perito, but consumers should have access to labeling so they can make informed judgments, just as they do when they glean calorie and fat content data from food labels. Should such a move occur, the change would be no different from positioning light and ultra-light brands, which make no health claims but are perceived by consumers to carry the benefits of low tar and nicotine, said Bill Pecoriello, analyst with Bernstein & Co., N.Y. The McCain bill ghost haunts the vacant halls of Capitol Hill as members of the 105th Congress returned to their home states this fall, but Big TobacCo fought on in courtrooms of Minnesota, Idaho and Florida, among others-battling huge settlement payments and public relations nightmares. The McCain legislation, which allocated substantial tobacco pricing and marketing power to the Food and Drug Administration, was killed this summer, but its spirit is sure to ris again when the regulatory is. sue is readdressed.

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