In the latest edition of “will they ever learn,” tobacco industry studies conclude that additives such as menthol do not make cigarettes more toxic.

Except, of course, they do.

As reported on MedPage Today, more objective researchers — who had to sue for access to the industry studies in question — concluded that the smoke of cigarettes with flavor and other additives was significantly more toxic and higher in total particulate matter than cigarettes made of plain tobacco.

Industry players reported their study results as neutral, thanks to changes they made to adjust away significance, the researchers wrote in the December issue of PLoS Medicine. But from a solid-science perspective, the industry’s protocols were wanting, and their results reporting was … selective.

"These findings show that the tobacco industry scientific research on the use of cigarette additives cannot be taken at face value," the PLoS editors concluded.