BIG TOBACCO'S DEADLY DECEITS

[Bruce Watson]

(c) 1996 SIRS, Inc.

MIDWEST TODAY June/July 1996, pp. 6-13
Copyright 1996 by Midwest Today, Inc.

BIG TOBACCO'S DEADLY DECEITS
Cigarette Makers Have Worked Hard to Get Smokers Hooked
by Larry Jordan

After decades of deceiving the American public and millions of lives
lost from their deadly products, U.S. tobacco companies are finally
getting their comeuppance.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this Summer is promulgating new
rules that define nicotine as a drug and impose tough restrictions on
the sale and advertising of cigarettes, as with other life-threatening
drugs. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has
proposed new bans on smoking in workplaces, while the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) is preparing to overhaul the way tobacco companies must
measure and disclose tar and nicotine content. An Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) report has classified tobacco smoke as a "group
A" carcinogen, and the Clinton administration has launched an all-out
assault on teen smoking. Five grand juries are investigating tobacco
industry executives on charges of perjury and fraud, and 200 private as
well as public lawsuits--including those brought by 17 state
attorneys-general--are seeking to recoup billions of dollars in excess
medical costs as a result of tobacco-related diseases.

The Justice Department, which has investigated the industry for three
years, has expanded civil and criminal inquiries in recent months to
include four of its six litigating divisions, making the pursuit of
tobacco companies the Clinton administration's most aggressive
prosecutorial effort.

Against this backdrop, there have been some startling new revelations
about how cigarette manufacturers have concealed information from
smokers regarding the true health risks associated with tobacco. A
series of insider documents have been obtained by various prosecutors
and the FDA and released to the media, which detail the duplicity of the
major tobacco giants. In addition, serious questions have been raised
over whether or not manufacturers have been manipulating the nicotine
content of cigarettes--ostensibly to get smokers hooked--even while
ignoring technology that could potentially make cigarettes safer.

The tobacco companies are hunkering down for the long haul.

"Their major legal defense is that cigarettes, like guns and alcoholic
beverages, are inherently dangerous products," says John Banzhaf,
executive director of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), a national
anti-smoking organization. "Since they cannot be made any safer,
manufacturers should not be held liable, their argument goes."

But, he warns, "If the industry knew how to remove some of the most
deadly carcinogens from cigarettes but refused to do so, it could open
them up to unprecedented legal liability."

The top executives of the seven leading U.S. tobacco companies were
questioned individually by a Congressional committee in April 1994, and
all testified under oath that they did not think that nicotine was
addictive, that cigarettes caused disease or that their companies
manipulated the level of nicotine in tobacco products.

As Glenda Holste, editorial writer for the ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS
commented, "It was starkly obvious that big companies with substantial
financial reward from selling tobacco products would rather send a bunch
of Pinocchios in $800 suits out in public to do a puppet show than face
any part of the problems their cigarettes cause society."

Despite the absurd contention by one tobacco industry exec that
"cigarette smoking is no more addictive than coffee, tea or Twinkies,"
incriminating documents that have been leaked from inside the companies
suggest otherwise.

Dramatic new disclosures of highly secretive tobacco research reports,
minutes of meetings, memoranda and handwritten notes that have been
obtained and subsequently released by the FDA--as well as testimony
given in depositions taken from former tobacco company
employees-turned-whistleblowers--proves that for over 30 years,
cigarette makers have been aware of the health risks and addictive
potential associated with their products. Not only have they hidden this
information from consumers, but unconscionably introduced harmful
additives into cigarettes that worsen the dangers. For instance,
Mississippi Attorney General Michael Moore says tobacco companies are
"using ammonia to free-base nicotine almost the way a cocaine dealer
uses chemicals in baking powder to free-base cocaine to make crack." The
FDA concurs.

The JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION says the papers provide
"massive, detailed, and damning evidence of the tactics of the tobacco
industry. They show us how this industry has managed to spread confusion
by suppressing, manipulating, and distorting the scientific record. They
also make clear how the tobacco industry has been able to avoid paying a
penny in damages and how it has managed to remain hugely profitable from
the sale of a substance long known by scientists and physicians to be
lethal."

Had this information been known earlier, wrote the JAMA, "We can only
speculate how many lives would have been saved and how much suffering
would have been averted."

Despite the attacks on the tobacco companies, no one seriously believes
that cigarettes or other tobacco products will ever be outlawed, as the
U.S. did with alcohol in 1918. To do so would create an $80
billion-a-year bootleg market among today's 45 million smokers.

Even as attorneys general in some states sue tobacco companies for a
share of public health expenses, other state governments are
substituting cigarette taxes for property taxes because voters prefer to
fund schools that way.

And, warns Richard Kluger, author of "Ashes to Ashes," a new book on the
battle against smoking, "The companies will litigate for the next 10 to
20 years while more young people become addicted."

Skeptics are also dubious that the FDA will be able to implement its new
regulations on tobacco, because the process is likely to become stalled
for years in the courts unless some type of compromise legislation is
passed by Congress. The tobacco companies have sued to block the FDA
from going ahead with its plan, choosing a court of jurisdiction that
includes a judge--William L. Osteen, Sr.--who is a former tobacco
lobbyist himself, and who in 1994 handed down a ruling favorable to the
industry in a case involving the Environmental Protection Agency and
secondhand smoke.

To counter the offensives against it, Big Tobacco has increased its
contributions to Republican leaders in Congress since the last election,
and enlisted the support of Presidential candidate Bob Dole (R-Kansas).

According to Common Cause, 79% of all current members of Congress--339
Representatives and 83 Senators--have benefited from the tobacco
industry's largess. About $1.5 million went to Republican coffers during
just the first six months of 1995--a fivefold increase over the previous
year--and, notably, AFTER the election. Philip Morris alone contributed
nearly $730,000, a record from a single donor during the first six
months of a year.

"Congress has done nothing and will do nothing to regulate the tobacco
industry," said Ahron Leichtman, founder of Citizens for A Tobacco-free
Society and an architect of the campaign that banned smoking on domestic
airline flights.

To date, Congress has exempted tobacco from regulation under the
Consumer Product Safety Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, the
Controlled Substances Act, the Federal Hazardous Substances Act, and the
Fair Labeling and Packaging Act.

The situation has grown so absurd, that one member of the House
leadership team, GOP Conference Chairman John Boehner, of Ohio, admitted
he even distributed tobacco PAC campaign checks on the House floor.

For the Clinton administration, the battle with tobacco means an
election-year showdown with what a key Congressional aide calls "the
most powerful special interest in America," one that has forged a close
alliance with the President's opponent. Clinton wants the Food and Drug
Administration to ban cigarette companies from advertising at sporting
events and require the companies to pay for anti-tobacco education
campaigns.

By contrast, Bob Dole and his wife, Liddy, went to the Southern 500 auto
race where the Presidential contender got a big round of cheers by
holding up a t-shirt with the words, "Let NASCAR make the rules, not the
FDA."
South Carolina Gov. David Beasley, a Dole supporter, described the
Republican Presidential candidate as "pro-tobacco."

Meanwhile, the tabloid TV show "A Current Affair" showed contractors of
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. giving cigarettes to 16-year-old girls at
recent NASCAR races in Charlotte, North Wilkesboro and Rockingham. RJR
pays a Chicago firm, Group Three, to distribute cigarettes at NASCAR
races, the stock car racing series largely underwritten by the company.
In the aftermath of the broadcast, changes were implemented to require
proof of age.

THE SCOPE OF THE PROBLEM

Over 50,000 studies of the health effects of tobacco in dozens of
countries have detailed its dangers. Worldwide, tobacco use causes about
90% of lung cancer deaths, 30% of all cancers, 20-25% of coronary heart
diseases and stroke deaths, and more than 80% of chronic bronchitis and
emphysema.

Nicotine, the drug in tobacco, is as addictive as heroin or cocaine.
Tobacco use is recognized as a serious drug problem by the World Health
Organization and the U.S. Public Health Service.

If current smoking patterns continue, nearly one-tenth of the world's
population will be wiped out by tobacco related diseases--including over
200 million of today's children and teenagers, two-thirds of them in the
Third World.

Tobacco use takes an enormous, deadly toll each year. Tobacco products
are responsible for more than 400,000 deaths due to cancer, respiratory
illness, heart disease, and other health problems. Cigarettes kill more
Americans each year than AIDS, alcohol, car accidents, murders,
suicides, illegal drugs and fires combined. Smokers who die as a result
of smoking would have lived on average 12 to 15 years longer if they had
not smoked.

The health care costs associated with tobacco use are rising. The
Centers for Disease Control estimated that in 1993

these costs totalled $50 billion: $26.9 billion for hospital care; $15.5
billion for doctors; $4.9 billion in nursing home costs; $1.8 billion
for prescription drugs and $900 million for home-health care
expenditures. The Office of Technology Assessment calculated the social
costs attributable to smoking in 1990 at $68 billion. That calculation
was based on $20.8 billion in direct health care costs and $6.9 billion
in lost productivity from disabilities and $40.3 billion in lost
productivity from premature deaths.

Despite tobacco industry claims of making "safer" cigarettes, the rate
of lung cancer deaths among smokers has increased dramatically during
the past three decades--particularly among women, a new study shows.

Even with the widespread introduction of filter-tipped, lower tar
cigarettes, (which L&M initially touted as "Just what the doctor
ordered"), the rate of lung cancer deaths increased 500% among women
smokers and doubled among male smokers, according to a large-scale study
of smoking published in the

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH.

"This is an invisible epidemic, and the toll in human lives just
continues," says one of the study's main authors, Dr. Michael J. Thun,
an epidemiologist with the American Cancer Society. "This shows how this
epidemic has evolved since the 1960s."

SECOND-HAND SMOKE

Even if you're a nonsmoker, it's virtually impossible to escape the
effects of tobacco. Nine out of ten non-smoking Americans are exposed to
secondhand tobacco smoke, despite efforts to restrict smoking in public
places, according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.

A study published in the JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
found that exposure to tobacco smoke in the workplace may be far more
prevalent than had been previously thought. The study found that 87.9%
of all nonsmokers in the U.S. have detectable traces of cotinine, a
nicotine residue, in their bloodstream.

And 43% of all children 11 years old and younger are exposed to smoking
by household members, the study found.

Over 53,000 non-smoking Americans die annually from inhaling other
people's tobacco smoke. Breathing smoke can hurt anyone, but it is
especially harmful to the elderly, the very young, and those with
existing respiratory problems. Refraining from smoking during pregnancy
and around children will give them a healthier start in life.

New research suggests that women who smoke during pregnancy or breathe
secondhand smoke can pass cancer-causing chemicals into their fetus'
blood, where they can linger for months. Dr. Stephen Myers of the
University of Louisville conducted the study; his research group plans
on following the newborn children in his study to determine if those
exposed to tobacco chemicals in the womb have a higher risk of tumors.

Although more than 70% of smokers want to quit, only 2.5% succeed each
year, according to a federal study.

YOUNG PEOPLE TARGETED

The tobacco industry loses close to 5,000 customers every day in the
U.S. alone--including 3,500 who manage to quit, and about 1,200 who die.
The most promising "replacement smokers" are young people: 90% of all
smokers begin before they're 21, and 60% before they're 14. To find new
customers, American tobacco companies spend $11 million EVERY DAY to
advertise and promote cigarettes--more than the U.S. federal Office on
Smoking and Health spends to prevent smoking in an entire YEAR.

More than 80% of all adult smokers had tried smoking by their 18th
birthday and more than half of them had already become regular smokers
by that age. Studies show that if people do not begin to smoke as
teenagers or children, it is unlikely they will ever do so.

Despite state laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco to minors, children
can easily buy these products. One study estimated that teenagers
annually consume 516 million packs of cigarettes and 26 million
containers of chewing tobacco. A review of 13 studies of
over-the-counter sales found that on average, children and adolescents
were able to successfully buy tobacco products 67% of the time.

There's no doubt that children are becoming addicted to nicotine. Each
day, another 3,000 young people become regular smokers, and nearly 1,000
of them will eventually die as a result of their smoking.

Currently, more than 3 million children and adolescents smoke
cigarettes, and 1 million adolescent boys use smokeless tobacco. Smoking
by young people is rising sharply. Between 1991 and 1994, the percentage
of eighth graders who smoke increased 30%, and the percentage of tenth
graders who smoke increased 22%.

The addictive nature of tobacco makes the industry's targeting of
adolescents all the more insidious. Young people often have little
understanding of the concept of addiction. A survey of high school
students who smoke daily found that only 5% of them thought they would
"definitely" be smoking five years later. In actuality, seven to nine
years later, nearly 75% of them were still daily smokers.

Internal documents from R.J. Reynolds contradict company denials that it
has targeted underage smokers or that cigarette advertising influences
young people. A memo dated July 3, 1974 and written by marketing
research executive D.W. Tredennick, notes that new smokers choose a
brand because of "the user image a brand projects..." The memo
continues, "To some extent young smokers `wear' their cigarette and it
becomes an important part of the `I' they wish to be, along with their
clothing and the way they style their hair."

In the U.S., cigarette advertising links smoking to being "cool," taking
risks, and growing up. U.S. teenagers buy the most

heavily promoted cigarettes, and 80% of teens consider advertising
influential in encouraging them to begin to smoke.

At the same time the tobacco industry insists that it does not want
children to smoke--and backs up its claims with campaigns supposedly
designed to discourage young people from smoking.

But programs like "Tobacco: Helping Youth Say No" are not only slick
public relations efforts designed to bolster industry credibility, they
actually encourage youth tobacco use. By leaving out the health dangers,
ignoring addiction, and glamorizing smoking as an "adult custom," these
campaigns reinforce the industry's advertising theme presenting smoking
as a way for children to exert independence and be grown up.
All around the world, American tobacco companies undeniably target young
people. Among the examples:

-Promotion of tobacco products through non-tobacco items

Such as T-shirts, hats and gym bags and through sponsorship of events is
reaching children. A 1992 Gallup Survey found that half of adolescent
smokers and one quarter of adolescents who do not smoke owned at least
one tobacco promotional item such as a T-shirt, cap, sporting good, or
lighter. Another report found that one out of four 12-and 13-year-olds
own one of these items. Used or worn by young people, these become
"walking billboards," promoting these products in schools and other
locations where tobacco advertising is usually prohibited.

-Sponsorship of events such as tennis tournaments, car races, and rodeos
associate smoking with fun, and enhance the appeal of cigarettes to
young people.

Philip Morris's Virginia Slims tennis and RJR Nabisco's Winston Cup auto
racing were both launched in 1971--the same year the federal law barring
cigarette ads from television and radio took effect.

-RJR Nabisco's Joe Camel campaign is a particularly

appalling example of the industry hitting its target. Joe Camel has
profoundly influenced even the very young: one study showed that by age
six, children were as familiar with Joe Camel as with the Mickey Mouse
logo on the Disney Channel. The cartoon camel catapulted Camel
cigarettes from a brand smoked by less than 1% of U.S. smokers under age
18 to a one-third share of the youth market within three years.

The "Camel Cash" promotion has offered coupons resembling one-dollar
bills in every pack of filtered Camel cigarettes. These "Camel C-notes"
picture Joe Camel, in sunglasses and smoking, dressed as George
Washington. Consumers redeem Camel Cash for "smooth stuff" with obvious
appeal to young people--"flip-flops," insulators for beverage cans,
jackets, towels, T-shirts, and hats--all featuring Joe Camel.

-The enormous success of Joe Camel has apparently inspired other cartoon
ad campaigns, including a penguin tested by Brown & Williamson, U.S.
subsidiary of transnational giant BAT industries. "Willie the Kool," the
penguin used to promote Kool cigarettes, has buzz-cut hair, day-glo
sneakers, sunglasses, and is very conscious of being "cool."

-Philip Morris promotions also offer items like black leather backpacks,
a tough biker jacket, sunglasses, and vests, in its new Virginia Slims
"V-Wear" line.

So anxious are tobacco companies to expand their youth market, they have
emphasized smokeless tobacco and even considered some far-fetched ways
to introduce tobacco to other products.

"We must sell the use of tobacco in the mouth and appeal to young
people," tobacco exec L.F. Bantle was quoted in the minutes from one
meeting. "We hope to start a fad. The theme will be: `TOBACCO--TOO GOOD
TO SMOKE.'"

Inventive marketeers recommended using the tobacco leaves from the very
top of the plants, because they have the most nicotine. Another idea was
to put nicotine in what one company called "a confection" or candy.
Thankfully, it rejected this idea--but only after two years of serious
study.

SPREADING THE PLAGUE TO THE WORLD

While tobacco giants assiduously deny that they target young people in
the U.S. or are interested in getting kids hooked, their mindset is
glaringly apparent on a global scale. For instance:

-Children are given Marlboro T-shirts in Kenya, and Marlboro clothing in
Guatemala. Hong Kong children as young as seven years old are addicted
to cigarettes.

-Young women in "cowgirl" outfits hand out free Philip Morris Marlboros
to teenagers at rock concerts and discos in Eastern Europe. Those who
accept a light on the spot are rewarded with Marlboro sunglasses--much
the same way pushers on a schoolyard give freebies to get kids started
on drugs.

-In Thailand, cigarette logos have appeared on kites, T-shirts, pants,
notebooks, earrings, and chewing gum.

-High school students in Taipei flood the Whisky A Go-Go disco, where
free packs of RJR Nabisco Salems are on each table.

-At a high school in Buenos Aires, a woman wearing khaki safari gear and
driving a jeep with the yellow Camel logo hands out free cigarettes to
15-and 16-year-olds on their lunch recess.

The ROANOKE TIMES, in the heart of tobacco company, editorialized, "Any
measures are welcome that would help counter the cigarette industry's
misleading messages and spare children from the fatal notion that
smoking is refreshing and glamorous and sexy; that smokers of the long,
slender variety are elegant and lovely; that smokers of certain brands
are ruggedly handsome; that smoking is a kid thing because, after all,
the ubiquitous Joe Camel is always hip, always has a smoke dangling from
his lip --and he's a lovable cartoon character, for heaven's sake."

Joan Dykstra, president of the National Parent-Teacher Association, said
her organization favors FDA regulation to combat the millions of dollars
a day that the tobacco industry spends to promote its products.

"This is truly a battle for the lives of children. Parents are calling
on the FDA to help them level the playing field," Dykstra said.

SALES AND PROFITS UP

While critics rejoice at its mounting legal and political problems, the
tobacco industry may have quietly turned a corner in its struggle to
stabilize its U.S. market.

Americans smoked more cigarettes in 1995 than in the previous year,
something that has not happened in more than a decade, according to the
U.S. Department of Agriculture.

It was an increase to 487 billion cigarettes and arrested a long retreat
in smoking by Americans.

Coupled with a recent rise in the rate of smoking by high school
seniors, the figures suggest that tobacco sales are bottoming out,
despite the strength of the anti-smoking message.

For the anti-smoking forces--who have been on a roll against tobacco and
have trumpeted the goal of a smoke-free society--the numbers are a
reality check.

"Here we are, 30 years after the release of the first Surgeon General's
report, and we still have 42 million smokers in this country," said
Scott Ballin, vice president of the American Heart Association. The
numbers, he said, raise "a lot of concerns about where we're headed in
the future."

Philip Morris had revenues of more than $64 billion last year. The
company makes Marlboro, Virginia Slims and Benson & Hedges cigarettes,
among other cigarette brands. Other divisions include Miller Brewing Co.
and Kraft Foods Inc., which makes Maxwell House coffee, Velveeta, Oscar
Mayer hot dogs, Kool-Aid, Breyer's yogurt and many other well-known
products.

Yet Phillip Morris CEO Geoffrey C. Bible has complained publicly about a
"tirade of unfairness" against his company.

A Report of U.S. Surgeon General Antonia Novello on "Smoking and Health
in the Americas," states that "The high and increasing profitability of
the [tobacco] industry in the United States is of concern because the
richer the industry becomes, the more powerful it becomes and the more
difficult it is to control. The public health community faces the
political, legislative, and economic strength of the tobacco industry,
built up over time by the phenomenal cash flow and profitability of the
cigarette business."

CRACKS IN THE ARMOR

Already, the disorder in tobacco's ranks led the Liggett Group, the
nation's fifth-largest tobacco company, to make a stunning break with
the rest of the industry by agreeing to pay damages to smokers suffering
from health problems.

In other developments that portend bad news for the tobacco industry:

-A California jury awarded $2 million to a former smoker who claimed
that his rare form of lung cancer was caused by asbestos in the filters
of Kent cigarettes.

Lorillard Inc., manufacturer of Kents, was ordered to pay $1.21 million
of the award--a rare legal setback for the industry. The company has
appealed.

-Three significant anti-tobacco suits are under way in Florida. Two
class actions--one for addicted smokers and one for flight attendants
allegedly made ill by secondhand smoke--have been filed.

In addition, the state seeks to recover the $1.4 billion cost of
treating Medicaid patients suffering from smoking-related illnesses.

-There is also a class-action lawsuit in New Orleans, in which 60 law
firms are suing Philip Morris and other tobacco companies for
health-related damages. At the heart of the lawsuit is the allegation
that the cigarette manufacturers deliberately adjust nicotine levels in
cigarettes to keep smokers addicted.

-The attorneys general in Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota,
Mississippi and West Virginia have sued the companies, seeking repayment
of Medicaid bills for treatment of sick smokers. Other states like
Illinois and New Jersey are joining the suit.

-More communities around the nation are restricting smoking in public
places, and many private businesses, such as shopping malls, have banned
it.

-The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has proposed banning
smoking or limiting it to separately ventilated areas in 6 million U.S.
workplaces.

-The American Medical Association recently urged investors to divest
stocks tied to the tobacco industry.

Dr. Randolph Smoak, a surgeon from South Carolina and AMA
secretary-treasurer, called tobacco a "ruinous and enslaving product
that has brought misery, disease, anguish and death" and urged "all
people interested in the health and welfare of our children" to shun
tobacco investments.

"When tobacco is no longer profitable, when children no longer are
exposed or succumb to cartoon tobacco enticements and when this
country's investors refuse to take dividends from an industry whose
product causes suffering and addiction, then these American companies
will join the realm of responsible corporate citizens," Smoak said.

SHOCKING REVELATIONS

Ian L. Uydess, an associate senior scientist for the nation's largest
cigarette maker (Philip Morris) until 1989, alleges in a sworn affidavit
to the Food and Drug Administration that the company manipulated
nicotine levels even as it argued in public that nicotine is not
addictive.
Uydess told the FDA that while companies insist nicotine provides only a
flavor enhancement, his research proved that what people like about
cigarettes is the physiologic effect of nicotine. Said Uydess: "[Philip
Morris] clearly understood this relationship between nicotine level and
product acceptability."

William Campbell, then head of Philip Morris's tobacco unit, had
testified at a Congressional hearing that "nicotine contributes to the
taste of cigarettes and the pleasures of smoking. The presence of
nicotine, however, does not make cigarettes a drug or smoking an
addiction."

And James Johnston, chairman and chief executive officer of R.J.
Reynolds Tobacco Worldwide, insisted that "cigarette smoking is no more
addictive than coffee, tea or Twinkies."

Yet a leaked 15-page Philip Morris draft report likens nicotine to a
drug in both its composition and its effects on the brain. In calling
nicotine a "similar, organic chemical" to the drugs cocaine, morphine,
quinine and atropine, the document says that "while each of these
substances can be used to affect human physiology, nicotine has a
particularly broad range of influence."

Separately, the Associated Press quoted an internal document written by
Claude Teague, then RJR's assistant research director, as saying "A
tobacco product is, in essence, a vehicle for delivering nicotine.
Happily for the tobacco industry, nicotine is both habituating and
unique in its variety of physiological actions."

One Philip Morris official wrote, "Think of the cigarette pack as a
storage container for a day's supply of nicotine. Think of the cigarette
as a dispenser for a dose unit of nicotine. Think of a puff of smoke as
the vehicle of nicotine."

A handwritten note, stamped "R.A. Tamol" and dated Feb. 1, 1965,
advised: "Determine minimum nicotine drop to keep normal smokers
hooked."

Without nicotine, the FDA quotes one Philip Morris memo as observing,
"the cigarette market would collapse, P.M. would collapse and we'd all
lose our jobs and our consulting fees."

The documents also show companies learned to make cigarettes that
delivered more nicotine in the first few puffs.

Leading U.S. tobacco companies enhance nicotine delivery to smokers by
adding ammonia-based compounds to their cigarettes, according to two
major internal reports by Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp.

Only Liggett Group appears not to have used ammonia technology. Liggett
is the nation's smallest tobacco firm, with a market share of 2.3%.

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., observed that Philip Morris researchers
called nicotine addictive and gave college students electric shocks to
see if they would smoke more. Documents showed the company even worried
that in giving consumers what they wanted--lower tar and nicotine
cigarettes--"The nicotine deliveries of these products may be low enough
to constitute a partial weaning of the smoker," wrote F.J. Ryan of
Philip Morris in 1975.

The industry's much-ballyhooed low tar and low nicotine cigarettes are
also seen as a sham by some scientists. Jack Henningfield of the
National Institute of Drug Abuse, argues that these low yields, for the
most part, are obtained, not by removing nicotine, but rather by using
filters and air holes. But smokers get around this. "They take a few
extra puffs," Henningfield says. "They inhale a little bit more deeply.
They beat the machine. They beat the cigarette. They get all the
nicotine their body needs to maintain addiction."

The Federal Trade Commission is conducting a review since evidence shows
that the government's system of measuring tar and nicotine doesn't come
close to reflecting what smokers actually inhale.

For decades, ads for Merit and other "light" and "ultralight" brands
have all trumpeted their lower tar and nicotine numbers, citing official
U.S. government rankings.

Privately, the tobacco industry has long been aware of flaws in the
agency's measuring system--and successfully exploited them. As early as
1974, a Philip Morris Co. document titled "Some Unexpected Observations
on Tar and Nicotine and Smoker Behavior" acknowledged that the FTC test
results didn't indicate what people actually get from cigarettes. The
document said "Generally, people smoke in such a way that they get more
than predicted by machines." And it added cravenly, "The FTC
standardized test should be retained: It gives low ratings."

RAT POISON?

Smokeless tobacco and even pipe tobacco are not immune from
manipulation. Jeffrey S. Wigand, in a sworn account of his career inside
Brown & Williamson, said that during his tenure at B&W the company added
coumarin, which he described as a "lung-specific carcinogen" and a "rat
poison" to popular pipe tobaccos. Wigand said a company official
specifically told him that he feared removal of the ingredient from the
company's Sir Walter Raleigh pipe-tobacco brand would "impact the
sales."

Wigand, who holds a doctorate in biochemistry and endocrinology, was
head of research at B&W until he was fired in 1993. Over the past few
months, he has been embroiled in controversy over his willingness to
speak out against his former employer.

Former Philip Morris scientist Victor DeNoble, who appeared on ABC's
"This Week With David Brinkley," asserted that the company abandoned
research on a safer cigarette because of concerns over "liability
issues."

"It disappeared from my laboratory. I was told never to design another
one," DeNoble said.

Dr. Ian L. Uydess told CBS' "60 Minutes" that he joined Philip Morris in
1977 in hopes of developing a safer cigarette, but that "A couple of my
projects [were] shut down prematurely and they were terminated."

The FDA has released 100,000 tobacco industry documents, including
handwritten notes and the minutes of meetings, showing just how urgent
was the companies' need to whet people's appetite for their product once
its health risks were firmly established.

But Rep. Thomas J. Bliley Jr. (R-Va.), the new head of the Commerce
Committee, wasted little time announcing an end to all Congressional
investigations into tobacco.

DECADES OF SUBTERFUGE AND DECEPTION

The dangers of tobacco are clearly proven. Yet tobacco remains the least
regulated consumer product in the U.S., and the tobacco industry is
rapidly expanding its reach overseas. How can this happen?

Forty years ago, leading cigarette manufacturers, on the advice of the
Hill & Knowlton public relations firm, created the Tobacco Institute
Research Committee, to reassure smokers in response to the cancer
allegations, unveiling it in a full-page ad in more than 400 newspapers.
Since then, the industry-sponsored Council for Tobacco Research (CTR)
has waged what the WALL STREET JOURNAL recently labeled "the
longest-running misinformation campaign in U.S. business history."

Portrayed as an independent scientific agency to examine "all phases of
tobacco use and health," the CTR has actually been the centerpiece of a
massive industry effort to cast doubt on the links between smoking and
disease. According to Michael Pertschuk, former chair of the Federal
Trade Commission, "there has never been a health hazard so perfectly
proven as smoking, and it is a measure of the Council's success that it
is able to create the illusion of controversy in what is so elegantly a
closed scientific case."

A federal prosecutor is conducting a criminal investigation into whether
the industry used CTR to defraud the public. At least one former CTR
employee has spoken out about the true purpose of the Council: Dorothea
Cohen, who worked at CTR for 24 years until her retirement in 1989, says
that "when CTR researchers found out that cigarettes were bad and it was
better not to smoke, we didn't publicize that...the CTR is just a
lobbying thing. We were lobbying for cigarettes."

SOME SOLUTIONS

People in many parts of the world have demonstrated a willingness to
take more aggressive action in stopping tobacco's deadly toll. In a
recent Gallup poll of adults, more than half said all tobacco
advertising should be outlawed, and more than three-quarters believed
tobacco advertising that appeals to children should be banned.

The experience of other countries has shown that a substantial increase
in tobacco prices is the single most effective way to reduce tobacco
use, especially among youth. In Canada, where cigarette taxes quadrupled
between 1984 and 1991 and are now about seven times the combined federal
and state level in the U.S., smoking has been cut in half.

Despite the proven effectiveness of increased taxes in reducing smoking
rates and saving lives, cigarette taxes in the U.S. (as a percentage of
the retail price) have dropped dramatically in recent decades: the tax
share of the price of a pack of cigarettes has fallen in real terms from
more than half in 1965 to under one-fourth in 1990. The U.S. currently
has the lowest cigarette excise taxes among the 19 leading
industrialized nations.

Tobacco opponents, among them the American Medical Association, are
calling on the Clinton administration to halt tobacco exports and to
encourage antismoking campaigns in foreign countries.

But critics say only after lawyers defeat the industry in court will it
be possible to ban or further restrict tobacco advertising and stem the
increase in smoking by teenagers and adults.

* * *

DOLE'S ADDICTION TO TOBACCO MONEY

The sheer number of tobacco lobbyists, lawyers, and pollsters working
for the Bob Dole Presidential campaign sets a new standard. MOTHER JONES
magazine reports that Dole is not merely a longtime beneficiary of
tobacco money but that his campaign is a home away from home for past
and present tobacco operatives. These include an important Dole
fundraiser, Thomas Collamore; a Dole national co-chair, Jeanie Austin;
the chairman of Lawyers for Dole, Roderick DeArment; and the GOP
convention manager, Paul Manafort. These and other individuals represent
a tie-in to either a major tobacco law firm or public relations outfit,
a tobacco-industry front organization like the National Smokers
Association or Philip Morris.

Records show that Dole has received $368,350 from tobacco interests over
the years. Taking no chances, Big Tobacco also seems to be cozying up to
Elizabeth Dole. MOTHER JONES reports that tobacco companies have raised
their contributions to the American Red Cross, which she heads, to
$265,000 in 1995--up from $231,000 in the previous five years COMBINED.
Like her husband, Mrs. Dole has been a loyal friend of tobacco, even
refusing to ban smoking on airplanes when she was Secretary of
Transportation in 1987.

Dole raised eyebrows recently when he said that "For some people,
smoking is addictive; others, they can take it or leave it...Some would
say milk's not good...."

Dole's comments drew criticism from former U.S. Surgeon General C.
Everett Koop, a respected physician and Republican appointee, who said
Dole "either exposed his abysmal lack of knowledge of nicotine addiction
or his blind support of the tobacco industry."

In a bizarre interview later with NBC "Today" co-host Katie Couric, Dole
said Koop has been brainwashed by the "liberal media," and accused
Couric and NBC of violating FCC rules "by always sticking up for the
Democrats."

At one point, the Dole campaign even tried to counter criticism by
quoting Vice President Al Gore as having said in a 1992 television
interview that there is "no proven link between smoking and lung
cancer."

Gore, supported by a transcript of the interview, said Dole spokeswoman
Christian Martin failed to mention that the Vice President had
attributed the assertion to scientists working for tobacco companies.

The Vice President, whose sister died of lung cancer, urged Dole to
"correct the record, and instruct his campaign team to respect the
truth."

Al Gore recalled that his sister "started smoking when she was 13 and
could not quit. She died when she was 46 years old. I held her hand when
she took her last breath.

"To suggest that I'm not convinced of tobacco's deadly power is an
outrage," said Gore.

The V.P. had some words of advice for the GOP nominee: "Kick the habit,
Senator Dole. It's not worth stinking up your reputation with the smoky
stench of special interest politics and the dangerous din of
dishonesty."