The Filter Fraud

The Unfiltered Truth About Smoking and Health

Even though the cigarette companies never publicly acknowledged any lasting harm attributed to their product until 1999 when Philip Morris acknowledged the scientific evidence implicating cigarette smoking in diseases, they have always attempted to portray various brands as safer and healthier than others. No aspect is more central to the hoax of safer smoking than the filter. One of the most heavily advertised brands in medical journals in the 1950s was KENT, manufactured by P. Lorillard, which had a filter that was promoted as “so safe, so pure, it’s used to filter the air in many hospitals.” The KENT filter was made of asbestos.

“The cigarette with the built-in Filter Mouthpiece”

Advertisement by Benson & Hedges for Parliament cigarettes
Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 151, no. 3, page 58|
January 17, 1953

“Fredric March says: THIS IS IT  L&M FILTERS ARE JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED!”

Advertisement by Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company
LIFE Magazine
February 22, 1954

“The American Medical Association voluntarily conducted…a series of independent tests of filters and filter cigarettes.”

Magazine advertisement by P. Lorillard Tobacco Company for KENT cigarettes
1954

“FINEST NATURAL TOBACCOS  FAMOUS MICRONITE FILTER”

Advertisement by P. Lorillard Tobacco Company for KENT cigarettes
MD Magazine, page 194
March 1960

“Someday all cigarettes will probably be made this better way”

Advertisement by Philip Morris for Parliament cigarettes
The Doctor’s Wife, page 14
March/April 1960

“If you could put Tareyton’s charcoal filter on your cigarette, you’d have a better cigarette.”

Advertisement by the American Tobacco Company
Massachusetts Physician, vol. 28, no. 3, front cover and page 81
March 1969

“Carlton is lowest.”

Advertisement by the American Tobacco Company
Physician East, front cover and interior page
August – September 1983