LOW TAR CIGS AS RISKY AS OTHERS, STUDY FINDS

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SMOKERS who puff on low-tar cigarettes are just as likely to get heart disease as other smokers, it has emerged.

Experts have found low-tar and low-nicotine cigarettes were just as bad for a smoker's health as regular ones.

And they want governments to step in to ban the use of the word "light" on packets.

People who smoke so-called lighter brands experience exactly the same rise in heart rate and blood pressure after lighting up as smokers of stronger brands.

Light and regular cigarettes were found to impair blood flow through the coronary arteries to a similar degree.

Researchers studied people aged 18 to 40 to assess the health impact of different fags.

The team, from Basknet University in Konya, Turkey, found all the smokers suffered the same heart problems.

And they warned people who had switched to low-tar brands because they believed they were better for them to think again. Dr Hakan Gullu, who led the study, said: "Many smokers switch to low-tar, low-nicotine cigarettes in the mistaken belief they will reduce some of the hazardous effects of smoking."

And he called for governments and tobacco firms to tackle the issue.

Dr Gullu said: "Action should be taken to prohibit misleading terminology, such as the use of the word 'light'."

The study, in health journal Heart, also reported all cigarettes, low-tar or not, had around 2000 toxic ingredients.

Amanda Sandford, of the anti-smoking group ASH, said: "The only guaranteed way of reducing the harm from smoking is to quit altogether."