Anti-smoking activists are accusing publicly traded tobacco companies of defrauding investors by not coming clean about manipulating nicotine levels in cigarettes.

The Washington-based Lung Cancer Alliance sent a letter this week to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), urging an investigation into several companies.
Among them are Reynolds American, based in Winston-Salem, and Lorillard, based in Greensboro. The organisation said a federal court in August found several companies liable for increasing nicotine levels to addict a new generation of smokers, though tobacco companies denied the claims.
The group also said a report by Massachusetts public health officials found nicotine levels in some brands of cigarettes have risen between 10 and 30 per cent in recent years. (pi)