Lorillard
Fields
- Author
- Huber, G.L.
- Type
- LETT, LETTER
- Area
- LEGAL DEPT FILE ROOM
- Document File
- 03748433/03748957/S H Re Harvard Correspondence Volume 3 7701 780331 .
- Alias
- 03748545/03748551
- Master ID
- 03748433/8957
Related Documents:- 03748434-8435 Meeting at Harvard Medical School
- 03748436 Harvard Project
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- 03748440-8441
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- 03748447
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- 03748956-8957
- Named Organization
- Channing Lab
- Clifford Douglas Stewart + Associat
- Harvard Univ
- Thorndike Lab
- TI, Tobacco Inst
- Usda, U.S. Dept of Agriculture
- Walsh Brothers Construction
- Beth Israel Hospital
- Boston City Hospital
- Clifford Douglas Stewart + Associat
- Recipient (Organization)
- Shb, Shook,Hardy & Bacon
- Request
- R1-004
- Author (Organization)
- Beth Israel Hospital
- Harvard Medical School
- Date Loaded
- 05 Jun 1998
- Site
- N14
- Named Person
- Meadow
- Epstein
- First, M.
- Hardy, D.R.
- Kass
- Kennedy, J.
- Kornegay, H.R.
- Epstein
- Recipient
- Shinn, W.W.
- Litigation
- Stmn/Produced
- UCSF Legacy ID
- vey51e00
Document Images
OvARTMlNT oF HcOtC)Ni
D1VIStON oF RssPIRATORY DIltA
William W'. Shinn, Esquire
December 25, 1977
Page 2
sham exposure experiments concurrently with smoke inhalation studies, an
option that is severly limited in our current facility.
It may be helpful to review the history of the program, especially
in regard to the facilities that have been available to us, relative to
our current need for these renovation monies. The industry-sponsored.
program was initiated in September of 1972, although not approved or
made operational until January of 1973. The program started when we were
at the Boston City Hospital, with no intent or even any hint at that
time that we would have to change location. In February of 1973, for
all practical purposes, it was evident that, on decisions made primarily
in the office of the Mayor of Boston, the Harvard Medical Service at the
Boston City Hospital, of which we were a part, would have to be relocated
elsewhere. An ad hoc committee was formed to develop the best possible
options for the resources of the Harvard Medical Service and Thorndike
Laboratory, and a decision was eventually reached, on the basis of that
committee's evaluations at the time, to transfer the majority of the
resources existing at the Boston City Hospital to the Beth Israel Hospital.
Those members of our clinical program, who were in essence without a
place to function after July 1, 1973, moved to the Beth Israel in December
of 1973. Our research staff completed the transition over the months of
February through October of 1974. As you may recall, that was not an
uneventful move in that the City of Boston impounded our equipment while
it was on the trucks and prevented our transition on our first three
attempts to leave. I will remember forever my confrontation with MACE-
squirting guards in the BCH parking lot as I tried to remove my personal
possessions. In the 18 months or so the program was primarily based in
the Channing Laboratory,'of the Boston City Hospital, a relatively small,
amount of project funds was spent on renovation so that acute tobacco
smoke inhalation studies could be undertaken.
The move to the Beth Israel was not an easy one for our program.
Had we been the only ones moving from one Harvard institution to another
perhaps more could have been expected, but the Beth Israel had to accomodate
the majority of the individuals in a very large Department of Medicine
transferring from Boston City Hospital. That was not an easy task for
them. The construction of our new animal facilities and laboratories
was delayed several months beyond the initially promised dates and the
final cost was eventually several fold greater than initially approved
through me and the industry sponsors.The Hospital had a very large n
building program underway for clinical programs that took priority and CJ
the difficulties we encountered were not unique to our project as several 4,1
other investigators and groups had similar problems. It took a special "P
visit by Horace Kornegay and David R. Hardy to Boston, however, as well C!i
as a very intense effort by all concerned at this end, to complete 'a
before the first industry site visit to Harvard in the Fall of 1974 ~
renovatiomof what were then to be our animal facilities at the Beth
Israel Hospial. It is important to recall there was great concern b~~-
essentially all industry sponsors over the long initial delay, induced
by the transition, in developing facilities to undertake the basic

William W. Shinn, Esquire
December 25, 1977
Page 3
chronic animal inhalations on which all aspects of the program, including
the studies involving human smokers, are based. That concern was
appropriate and understandable. We did not have a facility in which we
could initiate our first chronic smoke inhalation studies until we moved
into the Kirstein Annex of the Beth Israel Hospital in the early winter
of 1974, almost two years after funding was approved by the sponsors.
The need to move from the Boston City Hospital certainly could not have
been anticipated and I think all parties concerned would have been
understanding if our problems with animal quarters had ended with the
opening of the Kirstein Annex facility.
In retrospect,'the development of the Kirstein Annex animal complex
for our inhalation studies was a great and tragic mistake, for which all
of us at this end, including myself, must take a certain share of responsibility.
At the time, it was the only identifiable option available to our program.
There were the pressures from the industry to "get_ going", so to speak,
and that was rightfully so." As it turned out, however, the theoretical
number of animals that could be housed and studied in the Kirstein Annex
on paper could never be implemented in reality. Unfortunately, it took
for all of us the experience of constructing the facility and trying to
make it work to learn that. The air handling system just was not appropriate
and was inadequate. After six months of what Dave Hardy called "courageous
endeavors" by our research staff, and after scrapping essentially all
research data generated because of one catastrophe or.another, a decision
was reached that the Kirstein facility simply could not ever meet the
needs of our program. In the spring of 1975, two and one half years
into the program and with the Kirstein complex closed, industry sponsored
funding was stopped until a solution for acceptable animal quarters
could be developed and implemented.
It was clear at the time that no alternative for us within the Beth
Israel complex existed, and in that our clinical program was based in
this institution a decision was reached to lease additional off-campus
space through the Hospital. After on-site evaluation of over 50 potential
locations, the current facility at Charlesgate West was identified as
the best possibility. I met with Dave Hardy and you in New York in the
spring of 1975 to present with both of you the two options to the industry
for continuing forward, and I think it is important not to lose sight of
those options and the decision that was reached at that time. Both options
involved renovating Charlesgate West as the only satisfactory site available
to the program. The first option, as developed by Dr. Melvin First of
the Harvard School of Public Health, was a "minimum investment" option O
to give a facility wherein we could satisfactorily conduct tobacco ~'
inhalation studies and demonstrate to our sponsors that we were capable a
of doing the kind of research initially proposed. Reluctancy by the 1z
sponsors to expend more than the "minimum" appeared reasonable, for we ~
had been supported for 2h years and had not been able to conduct any ~
satisfactory chronic inhalation studies, and perhaps several people were
rightfully questioning our ability to do so. I certainly had confidence
at the time that our group could be successful in this regard, if we had

William W'. Shinn, Esquire
December 25, 1977
Page 4
an appropriate place in which to work,-and the results since then have
more than supported that confidence. The second option considered in
the spring of 1975, as developed by Clifford Douglas Stewart and Assoicates
and the Beth Israel Hospital, was a'"maximum investment" option to
develop an '"optimum" animal inhalation facility at Charlesgate West.
The proposed costs for the two options were essentially a log apart in
magnitude. The "minimum investment" option was budgetable within the
then-existing monies already awarded to Harvard and the "maximum investment"
option would have required major supplemental funding. The industry
reached the decision to go with the recommendations of Dr. First. That
was, at the time, my recommendation, as well, in that I felt it would
have been wrong to ask for more money atthe particular time. I may
well have been wrong in the recommendation viewed from the current
perspective, but I do not think any of the industry sponsors were in any
mood to consider providing additional funds under the then existing set
of circumstances and problems. After all, the funding was stopped.
Funding was reinstituted, the "minimum investment" option for an
animal facility was implemented, and Charlesgate West opened in October
of 1975 for chronic tobacco inhalation studies. Until we closed it
voluntarily in September of 1977, a total of 4,500 animals were successfully
studied at Charlesgate West, with 2,650 animals exposed to tobacco smoke
for periods of one month to over six months without problems over that
two year period. We accomplished a great deal with those two years of
operation. Good people, as we have in our group, working together can
achieve a lot. We had a very-successful site visit by the industry a
year and a.half ago. Several important scientific contributions have
been made, attempts to raise additional sources of grant support for the
program have been successful, and as a group our investigators have
jelled into the kind of cohesive and coordinated team that is needed to
make progress in the difficult area of tobacco and health research.
In September of 1977, I reached the decision that we had to close
the facility as it now exists for further chronic smoke inhalation
studies. We had not been able, particularly over the last several
months of operation, to control the influx of outside rodents in the
building and, with them, problems of infection in our study populations.
We did not have these problems in the beginning. As is I think reasonable
in the development of a program like ours, our initial chronic exposures to
tobacco were of relatively short duration (1, 2, and 3 months). Perhaps
because they were relatively short periods, we avoided some of the ~'
significant problems that surfaced more recently. Our first attempts at ~
six-month exposure periods were also successful. As the duration of »"y
exposures increased beyond that, however, so too by necessity did ~
the total number of animals involved. Our animal colony became infected,
and in the end we lost some animals that we had been smoking for over OA
eight months.

William W. $hinn, Esquire
December 25, 1977
Page 5
Initially, I thought we could fumigate the facility, institute some
additional rodent-control procedures and, so to speak, pick ourselves up
and start all over again, with a discouraging but not insurmountable
setback. In carrying out these plans, however, we faced some major new
problems. We asked the Harvard veterinarians to evaluate the situation
and make recommendations to us. I have forwarded previously to you
their recommendations and enclose them again (attached herein as Exhibit
A ). We have asked John Kennedy of Walsh Brothers Incorporated, a
person in whom both Dr. First and I have a great amount of faith and
respect without reservation, to provide us with an assessment of the
costs required to implement the recommendations proposed by the Harvard
veterinarians to bring the Charlesgate West facility up to standards
that will meet animal accreditation (enclosed, Exhibit B). Up until
fairly recently, the Beth Israel Hospital had not listed the Charlesgate
West facility for accreditation inspection. Now that it is listed, and
now that we have been informed by good consultants that there is no possible
way the facility can be accredited as it currently exists, I am reluctant
to undertake any major research in it. Any results we generate and
share with the scientific community are open to considerable criticism
to begin with, in part simply because we are working in the area of
controversy that surrounds any tobacco and health research in general
and, in addition, in part because the program is supported by industry.
We have always done our best to keep our work above criticism of any
kind, and I would not want to embarass either the industry or the University
by having our animal inhalation facility closed by outside inspecting
teams. We are now undertaking, however, some very short term (up to one
month at most) inhalation studies of limited scope to answer a few
questions that can be addressed under these kinds of conditions and
circumstances. We cannot, in my judgement, undertake the Iong-term
chronic inhalation programs that are vital to the program in the facility
at this time.
I am sorry to have taken this long to develop options for us to
consider together. In part, I have been dependent on others to develop
good information on which to base a recommendation to you and it has
taken time to accumulate that information. I am grateful to Horace
Kornegay for the information provided via the Department of Agriculture
and especially to the understanding and patience that you and the industry
sponsors have given us. In addition, I have tried to develop a definitive
solution and that takes a lot of effort. In considering options, none
of us connected with the program are very enthusiastic about requesting
support fromthe grantors to improve a facility that inherently is not
part of the University, that is not owmed by either the University or by
the Hospital, and that is "ours" through a lease that has less than 2~
years to go and houses a programthat is funded only through mid-1980.
In short, however, Dr. First and I both believe there is no other option
that anyone here can identify at this time that will not result in a
near-total disruption of the program. We leased the facility initially

William W. Shinn, Esquire
December 25, 1977
Page 6
because there was no room for us in the Beth Israel Hospital, and there
is even less space currently available there now. I have explored, on
many different occasions, primarily through Mr. Meadow, but also through
Dr. Epstein, Dr. Kass and others as well, potential options for occupancy
by or development of a facility for the program within Harvard Medical
School, but that option currently does not exist, either.
Other possibilities have been explored. Harvard has recently
purchased the S. S. Pierce Building, which is nearby, and Mr. Meadow is
exploring renovating part of that for us in that it would be owned by
Harvard. We actually had explored leasina that structure at the time we
selected Charlesgate West, however, and it was not at the time considered
a very good option. It would now be a much more expensive consideration.
Dr. Epstein has suggested our exploring with you the building of 16,000
square feet of research floor space on top of a currently existing
building at'the Beth Israel Hospital. That would provide a.permanent
long-term solution and house our entire program in one unit contained
within a major Harvard institution, all of which are extremely desirable
However, it would cost $2 million and be three years or so before we
could use it. No other options can be identified at Harvard at this
time.
We need about 10,000 square feet of floor space at a minimum for
the animal inhalation part of the program, and preferably more. That is
a lot of space and Harvard is not the kind of institution where unused
space of any magnitude sits uncommited for any length.of time. It might
be possible to build new space, somewhere else, as was our original plan
at the Boston City Hospital, but that option would take, from where we
are starting now, a good year or two at a minimum, and probably longer
in reality, to implement. The cost for other options, even if a realistic
one could be identified, would also be high. That really leaves us with
Charlesgate West, unless you or someone else can come up with an alternative
suggestion. I would welcome and strongly encourage, as you have suggested,
having a group of industry representatives help identify our options and
possible solutions. Furthermore, I sincerely hope they could help us
come up with a better solution than I can identify for you now. Should
a decision be made to go forward with the Charlesgate West renovation
plan, I would strongly recommen&that the lease be signed directly
between Harvard University, to wh=the tobacco grant is awarded, and
the owners of the building. Alternatively, the grantors, perhaps through
the Tobacco Institute, maght desire to undertake the lease directly.
Dr. First and I have met with the owners, and the option for outright w
purchase of the facility does exist, and the possibility is there for %J
developing that facility and part of the adjacent one into a final ~
definitive solution. Whatever the final decision, I would strongly LM
suggest the development for relatively long-term options so that any Winvestment in renovation or
purchase can be utilized over a number of O
years, and with maximum return to the grantors.
I have little choice but to recommend to our sponsors that the
industry approve this request for funding for this renovation. Quite

William W. Shinn, Esquire
December 25, 1977
Page 7 .
frankly, I am as tired as you are of the many recurrent problems we have
had over the past five years in trying to find a lasting home for our
research team. It has been frustrating, disheartening and, at times,
most demoralizing to all of us here connected with the program. In the
now 5-~ years of funded support, for example, we have had only two years
of operating time for chronic smoke inhalation studies. That does not
provide for a very effective utilization of our grantors monies, nor a
very effective outlet for some very talented people who are giving their
section of our program, including future plans, under separate correspondence.
I believe this program has taken, in the past two years, one of the
biggest steps ever in the history of tobacco-related research and we do
have the resources to provide definitive answers to a number of crucially
vital, questions in this area in the next few years, providing only that
we have an acceptable facility in which our investigators can work. It
would be a great tragedy to stop or significantly delay any further our
efforts at this time.
.very best effort inihelping us with a difficult research challenge.
There are several ways to evaluate a research program, and I am not
sure I should be the one to say that our program is scientifically
excellent or not. I believe it is. In the past five years, I have
traveled the world over and seen what is being done elsewhere in tobacco
research. I think we have the best program anywhere, in spite of the
problems we have experienced. Part of what we accomplished was presented
to the industry at the site visit last year, and we have requested,
before this current trouble developed, another site visit for the
coming spring to present our considerable progress in the past year.
More importantly, now we also have some specific new observations on the
biologic effects of tobacco smoke on the lung, and some key information
on~the potential mechanisms by which those effects are mediated, that
never existed before. .I personally do not want to be put in the position
that we irreversibly stopped research at such an important phase because
we can no longer expose our animals. I have reviewed for you each
I am very grateful to the tobacco industry for the research opportunities
and support they have given to me and to our investigators, and I hope
in return they appreciate that I have done our best to fulfill their
expectation in implementing the agreement. In every contact I have had
to date iniregard to our program, every component of the industry has
been responsible in supporting,-either with funding, technical assistance
or other resources, their stated commitment to finding answers to the
tobacco and health controversy through research. Our program now has a
vital need, and I hope you and the industry can help us develop the best
solution possible.
Sincerely yours,
Gary L. Huber, M.D., Chief
Respiratory Diseases
GLH/far
A
