As there’s never smoke without fire, we wanted to find out more about the content of cigarettes produced in Switzerland but sold in Morocco. We used an approach that is as far as we’re aware entirely innovative, undertaking a comparative study of the sulphur, nicotine and carbon monoxide content of cigarettes smoked in Europe and Morocco. It is not a simple task because there is no publicly available data on the matter. Admittedly, levels of substances are sometimes provided on the packaging, but it is unclear whether the levels are respected by producers. The ultimate question is whether Swiss cigarettes smoked in Morocco are the same as those sold in newsagents in Cointrin or in France. The only way to know for sure is to analyse samples.

We were informed by Adrian Kay, the spokesperson of the Federal Office of Public Health (OFSP) that Switzerland has no “laboratory suitably equipped to carry out this task”. Yet, we did manage to find a laboratory able to undertake such an analysis: the Institute for Work and Health (IST) in Lausanne, a subsidiary of the CHUV (the Lausanne university hospital) which is part of the WTO’s network of certified laboratories.

An innovative smoke machine

To respond to our request, Gregory Plateel, head of laboratories, and analyst Nicolas Concha-Lozano had to build their own smoking machine. The method they use is practically ‘hand-made’: three containers to hold the cigarettes, a pump for inhalation and a jar where part of the smoke is concentrated. Nothing is left to chance – the machine is controlled by a computer which extracts 35ml samples over two seconds every minute.

To guarantee that the machine was correctly calibrated they started by testing a control cigarette “1R6F”. The control was an unbranded special sample for research laboratories provided by the University of Kentucky.

Once the cigarette has been ‘smoked’ by the machine, the smoke and filter was analysed to record the rates of full particles of nicotine and carbon monoxide. A single cigarette is clearly not representative, therefore to obtain reliable data they used samples taken from three separate packets and calculated the average of the three values. It took the researchers several weeks to complete the process.

Double standard

Gregory Plateel and Nicolas Concha-Lozano analysed no fewer than 30 packets of cigarettes from Morocco, France and Switzerland, which we provided to them in September. Their methodology was aligned with ISO standards which serve as a point of reference for all researchers who undertake such tests. In Switzerland and Europe, the authorities introduced the standard 10-1-10, which sets the maximum levels of tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide that cigarettes sold on the Swiss or European market can contain, namely 10mg of tar, 1mg of nicotine and 10mg of carbon monoxide. The standard served as a reference point for the analysis of our samples.

The results are clear: the cigarettes produced on Swiss soil and sold in Morocco are much stronger, more addictive and more toxic than those sold in Switzerland or France.

The results reveal a double standard – Moroccans smoke cigarettes that are more harmful than those smoked by Europeans. For each substance tested, nearly all cigarettes produced in Switzerland and consumed in Morocco contained levels higher than that found in Swiss and French cigarettes.

A sample from a Winston cigarette, for example, contains over 16.31 milligrams of full particles per cigarette, in contrast to 10.5 for Winston Classics bought in Lausanne. In terms of levels of nicotine, the difference between the cigarettes sold in Morocco and Switzerland is particularly striking: according to IST’s results there are 1.28 miligrams per cigarette for ‘Swiss-made’ Camels sold in Morocco, in comparison to barely 0.75 miligrams in Camel Filters sold in Switzerland. In terms of carbon monoxide, which reduces the amount of oxygen in the blood, the level also differs greatly between Winston Blues smoked in Morocco (9.62 miligrams per cigarette) or Switzerland (5.45 miligrams). Despite the reassuring name, smoking Camel Lights in Casablanca means consuming cigarettes that are more harmful than the Camel Filters in Lausanne.