Three of the largest cigarette companies will remove the adjectives “light” and “mild” from products sold in Canada by this summer, the federal Competition Bureau said Thursday.
Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd., Rothmans Benson & Hedges Inc. and JTI-Macdonald Corp. will start phasing out the words in the new year and complete the process no later
than July 31, 2007.
Seventy-nine brands of cigarettes will be affected, along with 18 types of fine-cut tobacco.
Sheridan Scott, the commissioner of competition, said she was pleased that the companies have voluntarily agreed to stop using the descriptors ahead of anticipated regulations requiring their removal.
Ms. Scott has been criticized by anti-tobacco lobbyists who argued the Competition Bureau was taking too long to explain why it has taken more than three years to 
determine whether the words light and mild are deceptive when printed on cigarette packages.
The lobbyists — a group of 11 health professionals — had asked the Federal Court to force the Competition Bureau to act on their complaint, first launched in June of 2003. The court dismissed an initial request this spring. Ms. Scott said Thursday that the inquiry into the complaint will now be discontinued. The use of light and mild has been discontinued in Australia and the European Union.
In August, a U.S. judge also ruled that tobacco companies distort the truth about low-tar and light cigarettes to discourage smokers from quitting.
The dilemma facing cigarette companies is substantial, since some smokers use products described as light because they believe the product is less hazardous to their health.
The move means that Imperial Tobacco will have to rename its du Maurier Light, Extra Light, Ultra Light and Special Mild cigarettes. JTI-Macdonald makes Camel Lights, Super-Lights, Mild and Medium, among others.
Ms. Scott said she is seeking similar agreements with a number of smaller cigarette makers to stop selling cigarettes described as light or mild in Canada.
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