CIGARETTE NICOTINE LEVELS POSTED ON INTERNET

BOSTON (Reuters) - The American Cancer Society Friday posted on the
Internet the nicotine levels of 85 cigarette brands, showing that many
``light'' brands were heavy on the drug.

``No longer will the true levels of addictive nicotine be veiled in secrecy
by the tobacco companies,'' said society president David Rosenthal.

Test results, posted on the society's site www.cancer.org, showed that 72
of the brands had more than 1.2 milligrams of nicotine per cigarette.

The remaining 13 had medium levels of 0.2 mg to 1.2 mg per cigarette,
according to tobacco company tests required by Massachusetts under a new
state law.

``No one should be tricked into thinking that there is any health benefit
from smoking so called 'low tar' and 'low nicotine' cigarettes,'' Rosenthal
said.