Message from the President Dear Colleague, On Jan. 18, the Harvard School of Public Health released a study confirming that, since 1997, levels of the addictive agent nicotine have increased in cigarettes. This news comes despite the fact that in 1998, Big Tobacco reached a Master Settlement Agreement with 46 states and five U.S. territories — an agreement with the central purpose to reduce smoking in the United States. Legacy joined the National Cancer Institute in funding this research, and expanded study of findings first released in August of last year by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Both studies show that nicotine levels in seven brand families — including Marlboro, Newport and Camel cigarettes — have increased significantly between 1997 and 2005. News of nicotine increases in these brands is particularly troubling, since we know these brands are popular favorites with American youth who smoke. For the vast majority of smokers, smoking is not a choice — it is a life-threatening addiction. Since most smokers — more than 80 percent — start smoking before they turn 18 years old, these findings mean that young people in America may be getting larger doses of nicotine. In turn, there may be implications on the rate at which new smokers become addicted, and it could increase the number of young people who will become lifelong tobacco industry customers and make it tougher for adults smokers’ efforts to quit. Harvard researchers have been quoted as saying that this increase was systematic, and the likelihood that the nicotine increases occurred by chance was less than one in one thousand. Nonetheless, further research is needed to determine how these upward trends may affect nicotine intake among the 45 million current smokers in the United States and what impact this may have in their struggle to finally quit. Sincerely, Cheryl G. Healton, Dr. P.H. President & CEO American Legacy Foundation