Tobacco Documents Online

Puzant C. Torigian~ Before Co~r~ittee on Commerce ( Statement by president~ Bravo gmokes~ Inc.~ He?ere?d, Texas of The United States Senate Washington August 24, I~67 Mr. Chairman~ members of The Committee~ my nalne is Puzant C. Tori~ian. I am president of Bravo Smokes~ Inc. of Herefo?d~ Texas, which since October, 1965~ has manufactured and marketed a smoking product -- unde~ my patented process -- that contains ou]~ed and bio- che]~ically treated outer leaves of the lettuce plant~ instead of tobacco. I am a pharmaceutical chemist, with a degree from Colun~bia University -- yet with little p~esent sympathy for my alma mater's current approach to cigarat filters. For 1O years I have womked on the d~velopment of a safer smok- in~ product. I am here to relate, with some pride, that such a pro- duct has been achieved and that the fact it is safer than tobacco eigaDets has been tested and p~oved by members of the medical pro- fesslon. To be sure~ OUrS is a small scale endeAVOr. We do not have The vast resources for research, production and prcmotion that the large tobacco companies enjoy. Nor do we have large grants from government, private health organizations or foundations that many medical societies and unlvemsitles draw from. - ~ore - ~¢ .j &1

( ( Pate 2. What we do have is an approach that is refreshingly simple~ direct and efficacious, Rather than attempt to devise new blends of tobaeeo~ additives for Tobacco or filters for tobacco~ we have de- cided to discard Tobacco, For one reason: Tobacco contains nicotine. And nicotine is a deadly poison, a pPoduct whose ~,ost ~mportant function, aside fPom Gradually poisoning millions of Tobacco smokers~ is a~ a dangerous and potent toxic insectlclde. THE PRO~LEM IT NICOTINE Mr. Chairman~ I am here to propose that~ in its efforts to counteract and cure The epidemic and eontageous disease of ci~areT emoking~ this conu~ittee and other organizations of gover,nment and private industry strike at the heart of the p?obleTn...that we launch an all-out attack on the ingredlent whose ingestion in smoke causes untold hundreds of thousands of deaths each year f~om cardio- vascular and other diseases. That ingredlent is nicotlne~ and that ingredient is found in only one p]ant...wbich is closely related to The Deadly N~ghts.lade that is nicotlnia tabacum~ or the common dom- estic Tobacco. This hearing has been called To report on p~ogress toward safe? smoking products. No filter for tobacco smoking can truly be termed safer unless it eliminates and not merely ~educes the amount of ~, nlcotino to he inhaled. The challenge Today is not To make tobacco~ safer, but to devise and successfully present to the public smoking~ products that are safer Than tobacco, with its harmful nicotine and~ carclogenlc nicotine Tars. - ~ore -

( Page 3. The distinguished Surgeon General of The United States, Dr. William H. Stewart, who ~oins us in Testimony here today~ has penned The preface To a repomt of The Public Health Service issued This week the± staTes~ among other observations~ That nicotine increases the heart rate~ pressures in the arteries and heart output~ which result in an increased demand for oxygen by the elreulatory system. AT The same time, persons with heart disease can not transmit this needed added oxygen Through Their systems, Even in heal~hy persons, it is difflcult~ if not impossible~ for the system to carry the added amount of oxygen that is needed when these candle a~terles are constricted by nicotine-effects. HEART DISEASE THEMAIN KILLER We have heamd fom years that eigarsT smoking is closely allied TO the incidence of lung cancer, a disease that the President's new study committee on This disease admits of only a five per, cent hur,e or postponement~ based on earliest possible diagnosis. Lung eaneem is a di~.e and deadly disease; each yeam mope Than 50~000 ~lerleans succumb to it. While death's sting is not assuaged by statistics, i% is s~gnerlcant To note That far more people perish each year from The nation's numbep one killer, coronary disease, The carclno~enlc Tars in Tobacco smoke have been deemed ~esponslble for i~ereased incidence of lung canc@r. But the deaths from nicotine in Tobacco smoke are far more epidemic, rivalling in proportion The toll of bubonic plague that ]]as wiped out major civilizations in the world. A lapse propor- Tion of These deaths az~e attributed by mop~. and more researchers to nicotine~ which is ingested 9n!Y thrgugh Tobacco smoke, ~SO~7~8~9 - more -

( ( Page ~. In approaching the subject of safe? smoking through a safer raw material than tobaeeo~ although we may not have eliminated entirely the threat of long eance?, we have taken a major flmst step to safe~ smoking. ~'~e have eliminated entirely, and not Just diminished, the known most Toxic material in tobacco smoke, Our pmoduct~ known as Bravo Smokes~ is commercially available~ not just an idea yet to be evaluated and proved, It is safe~ by far Than an~ othem smoking pro- duct. And in devising another substance' than nicotine-beaming tobaceo~ we have solved some other p~oblems. I ~efer to: 1. The effect on healthy bodies of nicotine's constriction of a~temies~ raising of normal pulse ~ate and increase of blood press-: urel I refer to an exhibit I leave with the oo[a~nittee on tests con- ducted by two Philadelphia hospitals comparing effects of these ele- m, ents of physiology among smokers of tobacco and lettuce leaf p~oduets. 2. The incidence of under-weight babies borne by mothers who a~e heavy smokers and the ?elationship~ in te~rf, s of pmematu~s bi?ths~ to infant mortality among children too small %0 survive this matern- ally induced assault. 3. The documentei effect~ in terms of ill health and death mates, of nicotine smoking among diagnosed cases of diabetes~ peptic ulee?s~ and~ of eouDse~ heart disease. -mor, e -

( ( Page 5. pRESENT LA~'~S NEED ENFORCEMENT In urging an all-out war on smoking~s great leading killer, nicotine, I believe I have The support of already-existing statutes and government agencles...providing these laws are enfomeed and The agencies do their ~obs. But here government compounds its own dilemmas° One agency supports the price~ for the tobacco farmer. Anothe~ umges importation of Tobacco f~om Communist countries as an encoun- age~an~ To trade and understanding. Another Taxes tobacco to support • I the ea?ller efforts. And fxnal-y~ the heali:h agencies spend to dis- courage young people and old from using tobacco. There are numerous programs that have not, but could be under- taken by government to held alleviate the misery of this suicidal sharae that is tobacco smoking. For example: I. The Interstate Conmlerce Commission is charged ~ith control of interstate shipments of poison. Each packet of tobacco cigarets contains a lethal human dose of nicotine. Should the ICC not enforce a labeling pmactice calling fop each pack to display '*skull and cross- bones" and present InfoDmatlon on the antidotes for nicotine poison- ing, which, incidentally~ calls fore pumping out the stomach and su:n- moning a physician? 2. The Department of AgrleulTuPe should ~eview its supports~ ond oThe? aldto Tobacco growing in view of This national epidemic. -J Surely, the Tobacco farmer may suffer~ but only temporarily~ from restriction. The force for innovation, the capacity to cope with change~ is inherent in modern America. Forced to master challenge~ - more

( ( Paz~ 6. our sclen~iets have sent men to spaee~ are producing safer care~ nlgh- superhuman colnputers. The tobacco growing and manufacturln~ indusfDy is a backward one. Its products have hardly changed in several dec- ades. Yet one cannot but believe -- if he has confidence in our com- bination of free°enterprise and %echnlcal competence -- that the richly- funded tobacco indus±~y could not catch up wi%h new~ better and d~Jf- feren% pl, oducts. Certainly~ if a small enterprise of 20Q people in He~-eford, Texas~ such as ours~ can pioneer with a safer ~moking pro- duet~ the vast tobacco Companies should be able to do it bettel, once they free themselves of the complacency that is so ing.~alned in this industry that the phrase, ~Tobacco Road~'~ has become synonymous in ~mlemic~n llfe for what is backward and decadent. 3. The Federal Food and Drug Administration has taken great strides in making the public aware of harmful or inefficacious drugs and medicines. ~.~e believe %his agency should insist ell further warn- ings on ciga~et packs, calling puDlic attention to the fact that smoking i_ss and not only may be dangerous to health, particularly among sufferers f~om high blood pmessu?e, Raynaud ~s disease~ arter.loseler- osis, ulee~,s and other ills in between which %here is almeady positive llnk with nicotine Ir~gestion. 4. The Federal Trade Commloszon has rullngs on tobacco pro- motion that need more ~igld interpretation and enfomcement. Should not our television commercials devote equal tlme to the showing of O that slde of the eigaret pack on whmeh a eautlo.~ary message is im- T printed? If an advertiser is to urge~ in multi-million dollar com- mercma-s~ that the public, "Show us your pack," should not they in N fairness show both sides of it?

: ( C ~age 7. THE FILTER $ELF-DEFEATIN@ There are blind alleys that lead no<~heme in the search for a safer smoke. One of them, to this interested observer, is the em- phasis on the filter as a panacea for the diseases that tobacco leaves us prone to. The cigarst industry intnodL~ced filters in 1959 and 1@60. In order to be effeetive~ they w~e so hard to q'draw" they be- cams known as "hernia sticks." In order to gain a lar~eD share of smoke~s and make them ssll~ it became necessary to loosen the filters -- and reduce their effectiveness -- and to develop "filter blends" of tobacco that were combinations of stronger and more deleterious tobaccos than were used in non-filter eigarets. Filters gained success because they did not "filte~ the taste." Neither did they filter the danEeDous ingredients of tobacco smoke. The idea of the filter is foredoomed because hlstorioa! :pme- cedent demonstrates that the mo~e it filters and keeps from the mouth, the more poison will have to be put in f~ont of any filter in order to "satisfy the smoker." Po~ years, we have seen untrled and untested ideas fom filte~ foisted upon the news media and then the public° Perhaps happily these have been permitted to lapse into limbo by the tobacco industry, which, after all~ does know its business. The latest product to be heralded as a phenomenon with only a paucity of evldence~ is a "secret" for~ula that has gained the backing, I reluctantly ~eport~ of my own university~ Columbia. AS former president of the alumni %9 association of Columbia's College of Pharmacy, I can only ~ue that this great unlverslty has lent its name, p~estlge and ~esources and morality to such an ethereal endeavor, - more -

. L Page 8. Thepe are other evils than tobacco and inefficient filters in clgarets. One of the most common flavoring ingr~edients in cigarets does itself produce ta~s that, our laboDaTory tests have ehown~ rank almost with tobacco in its harmful effect on the ci~cula'tory system. I am convlnceu, and~ on the best of present evidence, Europ- eans have demonstrated, that it is possible for science To remove nicotine from Tobacco. Filters become meaningless in face of such an achievement. The challenge to the American tobacco industry to re- move th~ deadly nicotine from its main ingredient cannot be over- whelming. I hope, and millions of other Amsr.icans should pl, ay~ that this challenge w~ll be meti But The prime ansi.yet to safer smoking~ gentlemen, must lie in devisin~ products that are safe? than tobacco. Hopefully these pro- ducts may he even safer than lettuce, as well I urge conslderat~on of the committee and the Senate of the value of government sponso~ed research and grants to worthy pnivate enterprlse to develop~ o? at least test~ new and safer smokin~ products. ~ I believe that we have pioneered a start in this direction with a smokin~ p~cduet that is being found acceptable by a limited but in- el.easing number of people~ not only in the United States but in Eng- land~ Po~tugal~ Canada, Sweden~ Italy and oe.her countries to which we export, ~ ~ If those of us who have first found a method of ~educin~ the t'oll that nicotine exacts on millions of lives can assist, then we 0 stand ready with counsel, ha~d work and imagination to assist the govel.nment and even The tobacco industry in thls vital mission°

C The popularity and the peril of tobacco smoking are closely related. The smoker is habituated to nicotine effects; he derives unconscious physiological and psychological satis- faction by ingesting the d~ug. This is "nlcotin8 addiction." If nicotine-free smoking pDoducts are devised from tobacco or othe~ substances~ and successfully mass marketed and promoted, we will see a gradual diminution of the smoking habit. For as nicotine conten'~ is reduced and eliminated, the smoked will have less and less "need" to snmke and he can be moth rational in his approachto giving up the habit. Therefore, I urge the nation to restrict the use of nicotine in eiga~ets to eliminate the illnessand death th~s drug foists on the nation. # 0 N