Bliley PM
Presentation to the Philip Morris Incorporated Board of Directors, April 30, 1975
Abstract
Draft presentation to the Philip Morris Board of Directors in 1975. Summarizes recent technical developments as related to the "industry problem of smoking and health." Identifies the opposition to smoking as evolving from three recent major events: epidemiological studies that show a strong statistical association between lung cancer and smoking; assertion by Wynder et al. that tar or particulate matter in smoke is disease causing; formation of the U.S. Public Health Surgeon General's Advisory Committee on Smoking. Attributes anti-cigarette movements, warning labels, prohibition of electronic media advertising and testing and publication of tar and nicotine numbers to these developments. Argues that statistical association does not prove causation. Lists lung cancer, chronic bronchitis, emphysema and coronary heart disease as the areas of concern. States that reduction of tar and nicotine delivery is one approach in producing a safer cigarette.
Fields
- Company
- Philip Morris Cos., Inc.
- Type
- PRESENTATION
- Draft
- Recipient (Organization)
- Philip Morris & Co. Ltd. (Cigarette manufacturer, incorporated in U.S. in 1902)Philip Morris & Co. Ltd.., was incorporated in New York in April of 1902; half the shares were held by the parent company in London, and the balance by its U.S. distributor and his American associate. Its overall sales in 1903, its first full year of U.S. operation, were a modest seven million cigarettes. Among the brand offered, besides Philip Morris, were Blues, Cambridge, Derby, and a ladies favorite name for the London street where the home companies factory was located - Marlborough.
- Named Person
- Goldsmith
- Wynder, Ernst L., M.D. (Epidemiologist, Sloan Kettering, Anti-Tobacco Expert)1993 First scientist to report in 1950 on the carginocencity of cigarettes in rats painted with tar. Assistant at Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research Directed the American Health Foundation (AHF) from 1984 to his death in 1998.
- Auerbach, Oscar, M.D. (Research Scientist, VA Hospital, E. Orange, NJ)
- Berntson, Joseph
- Named Organization
- Reader's Digest
- United States Public Health Service (Headed by the Surgeon General)United States Public Health Service is headed by Surgeon General of the United States.
- Federal Trade Commission (Enforcement agency for laws against deceptive advertising)Enforces laws against false and deceptive advertising, including ads for tobacco products. Ensures proper display of health warnings in ads and on tobacco products;collects and reports to Congress information concerning cigarette and smokeless tobacco advertising, sales expenditures, and the tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide content of cigarettes.
- Celanese Corporation (Sold materials for cigarette filters)sold materials for cigarette filters
- Imperial Tobacco Co. (Determined optimum nicotine levels for cigarettes)Did testing pre-1972? of U.K. smokers and concluded that the optimum nicotine delivery for the cigarette, and that stepwise reductions in delivery caused progressive rejection by consumers (see Project Wheat)
- Industrial Hygience Research Laboratories of ICI
- Huntingdon Laboratories (Did research for Philip Morris)Did research for Philip Morris
- Innveresk Laboratories
- Battelle Research Institute/Battelle Laboratories/Battelle--Geneva Laboratories (Battelle Geneva)A major testing laboratory for tobacco companies, performed nicotine addiction research in 1963.
- Hunter Committee (British committee investigating tobacco issues)
- Federal Trade Commission (Enforcement agency for laws against deceptive advertising)Enforces laws against false and deceptive advertising, including ads for tobacco products. Ensures proper display of health warnings in ads and on tobacco products;collects and reports to Congress information concerning cigarette and smokeless tobacco advertising, sales expenditures, and the tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide content of cigarettes.
- AEC
- Atomic Energy Commission
- *Oakridge National Laboratories (use Oak Ridge National Laboratories)
- Tobacco Working Group TWG (Federally funded project to create a safer cigarette)A federally supported project launched by the National Cancer Institute, with the purpose of developing a less hazardous cigarette.
- Veterans Administration
- Battelle Pacific Northwest Labs (Associated with CTR)Battelle Pacific Northwest Labs was associated with CTR.
- National Cancer Institute NCIDivision of Cancer Prevention and Control, National Cancer Institute located in Rockville, MD
- Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (See Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center)See Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
- Research Institute of the German Cigarette Industry
- TRC
- Tobacco Research Council of the United Kingdom (U.K. equivalent of U.S.'s CTR)
- German Cigarette Association
- Ohio State University
- Surgeon General's Advisory Committee
- Region
- Germany
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Scotland
- Switzerland
- Keyword
- Causation
- Cytrel
- New Smoking Material
- NSM
- Carbon monoxide
- Philip Morris Science Symposium
- Coronary heart disease
- Thesaurus Term
- anti-smoking advocacy
- tobacco use
- lung cancer
- research activity
- tobacco smoke
- government agency
- warning label
- advertising
- mass media
- nicotine
- tar
- data analysis
- disease
- respiratory disease
- cardiovascular disease
- chronic bronchitis
- safer cigarette
- epidemiology
- adverse effects
- Subject
- advertising restriction
- animal smoke inhalation
- anti-smoking advocacy
- safer cigarette
Document Images
DRAFT
Presentation to the Philip Morris Incorporated
Board of Directors, April 30, 1975
Gentlemen:
.... :'.!~:. - ,-- In 1973 when I was last privileged to appear before you, we
Slide
Slide 2
were dedicating our new tower laboratory and expanded R&D facilities. .~:_., .
You may recall that we were also hosting the First Philip Morris Science
Symposium, an event which was to be recognized at home and abroad
-as a significant milestone in our progress towai'ds establishing the
premier tobacco product research establisl/ment in the world.
. , -. " .~ In my presentation at that time I stressed the orderly transition
ii)!iilt!~::!:i,::.):'-
~ . .
. . ..... ~.,;!"~: ~,,: .
Slide 3 of scientific findings to technological development and the subsequent '~!~!!ij,
_
, . successful transfer of the technology into tobacco processing and : ~,,~:~;
~ '
. • , ~ '~P(; ~ :.: ~ .
. " ~mproved and new products. This vital flow has steadily increased in • ~.~(~Z~
:(,... the- past years under the encouragement of Mr. Goldsmith. t think i~ ,~i~,~:.
..,, ..:. . . .. ,
..,..,,~::V~?g.,~,;-'
-. ' ts fmr to say that our high level of technology has contributed substantially
, . . to the success of our enttre tobacco o~eratio~, both domestic and
" . international. ~r goal is to anticipate every Possible scientific and " .:?~(.~~
" technical challenge to our business and to ~ meet ~ose challenges .~'"-
in the most effective manner. . ~. :.
For this morning I have been asked to summarize for you in
~ , :-"
,. : :;.
tw~ty minutes or so recent technical developments as they relate to ~?~,?
. . . . .,~ ..,:,,,.~.~.
• .
- . ... . ~~
Slide 4 the industry problem of smoking and health. That is a pretty tall order
~r:::,~:.:-.. for such a broad subject, so please forgive me ~ I oversimplify in some
Slide 5
- 2 --
plt~ces and leave out a few details here and there. In this review
I will first qh_ronicle developments leading to the situation as it exists
today. I will then discuss activities currently underway in various
laboratories throughout the world.
predictions of the future.
And finally I~ will venture: a few
Although tobacco has been stated to be unhealthy from the
beginning of its use in Western culture, the recent thrus~ against
cigarets involved three major events:
1. The epidemiological studies published in~1950 which
purported to show a strong statistical association between smoking
and lung cancer among males.
2. The assertion byWynder and coworkers that the disease
producing entities were chemicals in the so-called tar or particulate
Slide 6
portion of the smoke. This began in 1952 with the first extensive
production of skin cancer on selected strains of mice when they were
Sli.de: 7
Sliide 8
painted with tobacco smoke condensate. His data fit a classical dose
response pattern of biological activity, thereby gaining some credibility
with his peers. The result of this demonstration was the comparison
of tar delivery values for various brands of cigarets sponsored and
published in a series of articles in Reader's Digest.
3. Evemu.ally all of th,i:s led to: the: formation, and report of the
U.S. Public Hlealth Surgeon General,s Advisory Committee on Smoking
puV "~sooo=d ~sv:~!p ~q~ sv p~!~!~uop! so~uvqo !IVO!~olo,!q ~q~ :o~ os~!,x
g,^!:~ o~Iou~s polequ! gql u! sigo!!,tuoq:o gqa t~oq ~u!u!eidxo tu~l~.uvqo~tu
60P!IS
Slide I0
Slide,
thirdly, the initiation and development of the disease: must be
reproducitbliy and quantffiably demonstrable in some bmassay system
at least remotely resembling the human situation.
are listed on thi:s sliide. The first of these was establishedi about: 1952
by Dr. Wynder at the: Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research
There are at least a dozen maj,or biomedical, research programs :~-~~~
in, ~e world dedicated to the ob]ectiv.es I have: j~ust outli~edl. SOme ....
• . ":
and was cl~osed out gter aboug 19 years, of o~ra~ton.
.About: i 0 years later a~ program was begun at ~he Research
'~ :
Institute of the German Cigarette: Industry in Hamburg:.
Their scientists,
•
earri~ed out mas,si,ve~cale mouse s:kin, painting bioass'ay of various
.
cigaret smoke condensates.. They made the first maior attempt to
relate the: chemistry of the smoke: to ~he biological e:ffec~s, and ~he
first: to ~ry to relate the mouse skin painting results to smoke
results in hamsters. They sho~edl that variously reconstituted tobaccos
had diffe:re:nt effects in ~he mouse skin test.. They ~den~ifted' some: .....
fractions of smo~e condensate which were more potent in this respect
than o[hers. Aad although they ha~e n~t been able to demonstrate luag
cancer b:y inhalation, they claim to have: developed' precance:ro:us lest.o:ns
in the larynx: of certain species of hamste:rs.. ~. . .....
About the same thne a major effort was. also being made in ~ : .-.~ .
Great: Britain also.und,er industry sponsorship, Initially the industry
the Tobacco Research Council with laboratories at Harrogate:. They
also set up: massive skin painting experiments and demonstrated that
various, tobacco and tobacco fractions exhibited differing biioliogical
organized a~ jointl~y sponsored, bLological research program through
activities. A.s'. soon as. thiis': critical' point ira, the program, was' reached,
the Bri~:ish, comparay sponsors abandoned this line of work since theg
felt they had no~ reacheff the stage a~: which each oompan:y must make
Slide 13.
its own to:bacco blends and carry out tests on its. own product forrn,ulat:ions.
Meanwhile w.e have had the development of a major program in
the Natton~al~ Cancer I!nstitute aimed at the development of a less _
hazardous cigaret.. This program now about: seven years old, i:s.
currentl~y at a budgetary level of about eight million, d0:llars per year. ....
lit ts administered byNC[ with an advisory group known as. the,Tobacco.,~. .-
Working Group, a mixture of university,, government, and! industry
s¢'iientists expert in v.ari,o~us aspects, of the problem. This program has.
genera~lly confirmed the earlier results obtai,ned in the Hamburg and
o~her laboratories. It is now moving in the direction of"prod~uct
dev.elopment,." that i:s:, combinations, of tobacco formulations,, filters,
paper, etc., which will give rise to, smoke of lowered b[ol, ogic:al~ effects..
It is also progressing in the directi,on of trying to confirm, mouse skin,
painti.ng results by inhalation tests with dogs t,n, Auerbach,s laboratory ., -.
of the Veterans Adm,iraistratton andt at Battelle Northwest Laboratories
",{I!A!1O~ O!lUeXt S!tB ~ii~) xo1 s!s.eq Nu!£ixopun atI1 meIdmaluoa pu~ l!q e
~Ia~q rials ,ol uo!.ssnas.!p xno u! lu}od s!tll le ~u~.lsaaolu! .s.! ,11
"Ilet pue xommns
s!tI1 xeodde ol onp axe m~x~oxd s!tB 5o mlnso:t ,(IXea :~u!z!xetumns
:suo!lea!Iqnd xo[em om.I. "oassouuo.l. t~! so~.xole=oqeq IeUO,!leN
a~P!lt ~IeO ~e padoIaaap~u!aq axe msa~ uo!~eIeqt~! ~elt "D.qV atI~ 1o
In a recent: publ!ication he has even descriibedi confirming epidemiologicali
data to: support: th is s tan ement. : .~
In. theory, a second! way to reduce the hazard of smoking iis to: -
•
• : reduce the specific biiologicali activity or toxicity of the smoke. Conceivably
this could be done by modifying: the tobacco blend, or by treating, it: some
way, or by selective filtration of ~: components,: or by subst:ituting
• for the tobacco some other material which will produce a "less hanadul,'
Slide 15
smoke. All of' these possibilities are being investigated. And all of them
are faced with an almost insurmountable problem from. a technicali point
of vi~mv: that: iis how. to demonstrate that cigaret smoke is less harmful
wheni we have no sat:isfactory way to demonstrate: than i,t is harmful,
' particularly to human. (Incidentally,: this i~s: also an unresolved problem
,,~= tn many other areas such as environmental pollutants,, agriculturali bi,ocides,.
etc.. A key aspect: to the: probl,em is. th~at th,e quantities, or concentrations
. to which humans are exposed in, the real life situation are many, many :."
:' times lower tha~n: the quantit:iites needed to prodUce effects in the animal
........
-,. test systems). The m,ou~se skin tes=t i~s, far removed from the human siinuatiom
..
'. None of the straight smoke inhalation tests have produced cancers. And
none of the: chemicalis found in smoke are at concentration levels posing:
the: ha~za~rd of toxic effects in~ humans.
, Despite these di~ficulti.es, the. search for less biologically active ~:
smoke is continu~ing,. Tlm justifying rationale: very clearly is tha~ the
.
Slide 16
Slide 17
-8-
animal tests are relevant to human experiience: mad that: toxicity at high
concentrations indiicates possible long term risk at: low concentrations,.
On this basis several large chemical concerns have joined the
search for smoking material! that might be "not so harmfuF' as: tobacco.
The proposed nontobacco materi:al:s, are of two types- first, i!nert diluents
(largely inorganic) producing so little tar that qualiita~tive differences in
biological effects of the tar are not important. An example of this type
is the prod,uct: Cytrel made: by Celanese. The second type i~s. comp:o:sed!.of
organic combus~ibles: which do produce tar but of low bio$ogical effect,
for example~: new smoking material (NSM)being produced by Imperta~
Tobacco c~mpany.. The pros and' cons of these materials can be argued
at: length., usually nonconclusively.
The theory behindi this. approach is that tobacco in its chemical
composition is hopelessly complicatedi and; results in an impossibly
complex mixture of chemical constituents iin, the smoke. It was felt that
by. st, arting w'ii~h a~ simple: material such a~s pure alpha,¢elilu~ose, one
could obtain smoke which i;s~ more controllabl,e in composi:tton and less
likely to be bi!ol,ogically active.
The Imperial devel,opment:and biological testing was f:iirs:t carriedl
out at the Industriiali Hygiene Research Laboratori:es of ICI and the:n,
extended by Imperial T0bacc:o: to ~he: Huntingdon R:esearch Cen,~er,: a,
commercial testing house:. Meanwhil,e, other companies in U.K. were
beginning to test product prototypes in Inveresk Laboratories in Scotland~
Slide: 18
and in Battelle Geneva as, well as i~a~ their own laboratories. With these
developments the Ministry of Health in Great Britain established a group
of experts: known as the Hunter Committee to set standards and to suggest '": :: !,-
procedures to evaluate test: results so: that: any new products introduced
to the public would not only be less' hazardous than tobacco but would also
• at the same time: not introduce new da:ngers.. I~n this sense, ~e Hunter
Committee iis expected to function somewhat like a~ Foodl and! Drug
regulatory agency. .
• - Nontobacco smoking m:aterials, are meant to. reduce the hazards
to the smoker; nevertheless,, they present unknown and possibly entirely
• ..'::_2:..,.'. '.:~:
new potent:i~al hazards. The smoke of the material and: of the mixtures of
tobacco -- nontobacco material substantiall:y differs from tobacco smoke.
' :, .' '::- ,'~, ~'0 ,, -,
It is not pos.si~le: to: predict the consequences of these changes~ in smoke.:
~.--
• ,, .;, i,::.~ ~y,
composition. Tobacco has been smoked for hundreds of years. Wtth
the nontobac:co smoking materials long term effects are unknown. So,
we: are faced with the que:stton Is the cure going to. be worse than the
disease?"' "
Both Cytrel and NSM are now being: exte:nsively tes~ed in ~h~e
major research laboratories ooncerned with this problem as well as
by some. cigaret manufacturers who. are contemplating~ theiir poss ible
usa~ge. The res~ults: of these ~ests s~urprisingly enough are showing that
when admixed with apprec:iable quantiti~es of tobacco the lowered activity
of tar from nontobacco smoking ma,terial offers little or no potential'
advantages to mixed eigarets tn terms of redUced biological activity
t~nless the proportion of: the nontobacco: material to tobacco is very high..
In fact some proposed nontobacco materials, have been found to be even
more ~cttve: biol0gicallty than tobacco and more active, in, adm~tures "
with, tobacco than either component alone. The hope that a nontoba,cco/
tobacco mixture cigaret will be a uniquely safer product is so far not
supported by the: facts.
Slide 1~9.
It i:s true that the nontobacco: smoking: mate:rials generally will
reduce the tar and nicotine deliveri:es of' the eigaret, thereby acting as:
a tobacco dil~e:nt. But less~ tar andl nicotine from tobacco, itself can also:
be achi, eved possibly ev.en more economiicallly by the use of already
existing techniques for modifying the:cigaret. I refer to: efficient
filtration, air dilUtiion, to the use of expanded tobacco, and, the use of
tobacco filler modificat.i~on through recon.stii~u~ion processes. All of
these techniques when properl!y employed can produce cigarets as~ low.
in tar and ni~coti~ne as any customer will e:ve:r want.. It can be done
without the use. of no:ntob:acco smoking materials of: un:known, long term
effects.: In short,, there are many thing~s our industry, cain dO to stay
in busi~ness without making: a synthetic cigaret.
One of the disadvantages of NSM is~ the fact that it increases :..
