Tobacco Documents Online

Summarizes studies being conducted by CIAR in 1994. One description of the findings of a study on secondhand smoke exposure on the upper airways states, "Findings have indicated that controlled exposure to sidestream tobacco smoke causes symptoms of mucosal irritation and nasal conjestion. Nasal resistance increases, and is associated with a reduction of nasal volume throughout the nasal cavity including the narrowest anterior segment. These findings are apparent with exposure to STS at 15 ppm CO for one hour."

While testifying in Florida's lawsuit against the tobacco industry in 1997, Philip Morris CEO Geoffrey Bible admitted that cigarettes were addictive and may have killed more than 100,000 smokers. He also said under oath that when scientists prove that cigarettes caused lung cancer, he would order the company's plants to stop production immediately. Here are the key portions of Mr. Bible's testimony: Mr. Motley [plaintiff's attorney]: Would Philip Morris agree that a single American citizen who smoked their products for 30 or more years has ever died of a disease caused in part by smoking cigarettes?

Mr. Bible: I think there's a fair chance that one would have, yes. Might have.

Mr. Motley: How about a thousand?

Mr. Bible: Might have.

Mr. Motley: A hundred thousand?

Mr. Bible: Might have.

Asked what he would do with his manufacturing plants if scientists proved "that cigarettes were a cause of lung cancer," Mr. Bible said he would "shut it down instantly."

Lorillard chairman and CEO Alexander Spears also testified in the same trial. He said he "didn't think any Americans dies of diseases caused by cigarette smoking." He also said that if scientists proved cigarettes were cancer-causing, he would continue to make cigarettes "until the government padlocked his doors."

Today, in 2003, under a section entitled "Health Issues," Philip Morris's web site says:

"We agree with the overwhelming medical and scientific consensus that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema and other serious diseases in smokers." http://www.philipmorrisusa.com/health_issues/cigarette_smoking_and_disease.asp According to attorney Dick Daynard of the Tobacco Products Liability Project at Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, Bible's testimony doesn't have any force of law, but could be "damned persuasive to a jury."

Quotes on pg. 5 seem to indicate nicotine manipulation: [In order to produce 5. billion cigarettes with a delivered level of 0.5 mg nicotine while maintaining a 2 mg tar level the nicotine content should be 2.67 mg/cigarette. The normal delivery of nicotine for a 750 mg tobacco cigarette would be 0.1 mg assuming: a 15 percent transfer through the filter. *** The nicotine requirement would therefore be 29,431 pounds for 5 billion cigarettes. 2~943,100 pounds would be needed with quantitative nicotine recovery. *** Roughly 18,814 ibs. of nicotine is lost yearly in Greensboro. The Danville loss would be around 11,969 ibs. of nicotine yearly. This must be considered as a loss of valuable tobacco flavor materials as well as the nicotine.

This article (estimated date 1 February 2002) exposes a British philosophy professor Roger Scruton for receiving pay from Japan Tobacco Incorporated (JTI) for writing pro-smoking articles and placing them in prestigious newspapers and international magazines. Mr. Scruton was known for writing articles that foretold the coming of "the nanny state" and criticized public health authorities for attempts to regulate tobacco. One 1998 article, A Snort of Derision At Society, claimed that laws requiring people to wear seat belts in cars also caused them to drive faster, thus nullifying any apparent boost in safety created by the law. http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/2064822424-2426.html

In another article, Scruton extolled "the benefits of risk taking" and said,

"The average smoker gains mental relaxation, social confidence and an easy form of hospitality from his habit: are these not parts of health? And are we necessarily right to trade them for a few extra years of life, when most of us live too long in any case?" (Wall Street Journal, 9 Feb. 1998) http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/2081322888.html

The relationship between Mr. Scruton (formerly a "professor of aesthetics" at Birkbeck College in London) and JTI was exposed when the English paper the Guardian published a leaked email Mr. Scruton wrote to the company. In the email, Mr. Scruton (who had been receiving a monthly retainer of 4500 British pounds, about $6,300 U.S. dollars) from JTI, asked for a pay increase to place more pro-tobacco articles in prominent publications like the Wall Street Journal, the Times, the Telegraph, the Spectator, the Financial Times, the Economist, the Independent, and the New Statesman. A search of the term "SCRUTON" in the industry databases reveals Scruton's publications supporting the tobacco industry.