Tobacco Documents Online

CURRENT AWARENESS BULLETIN Y ~./TOBACCO COMPANY RESEARCH LIBRARY Vol. 24, No. 6, June 3, 1994

TABLE OF CONTENTS I. NEWS BRIEFS .................................. 619-646 II. ABSTRACTS FROM CURRENT LITERATURE ........... 647-649 III. BOOKS RECENTLY RECEIVED ..................... 650-651 IV. RECENTLY PUBLISHED .............................. 652 V. ANALYSIS OF PAPER OR FIBER .................... 653-654 VI. ANALYSIS OF PESTICIDES ........................ 655-656 VII. ANALYSIS OF TOBACCO ............................. 657 Vlii. ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY GENERAL ................. 658-665 IX. BIOLOGICAL EFFECT OF ADDITIVES .................... 666 X. ENVIRONMENTAL TOBACCO SMOKE ................ 667-670 XI. FLAVORS ...................................... 671-675 XII. FOOD ADDITIVES ............................... 676-679 XIII. MEDICAL ARTICLES ON TOBACCO .................. 680-689 , XIV. NITROSAMINES ................................. 690-696 XV. STORED PRODUCTS ................................ 697 XVI. TOBACCO AND TOBACCO SMOKE .................. 698-707 XVII. TOBACCO PHARMACOLOGY ....................... 708-709 EDITORIAL STAFF: LARRY SKLADANOWSKI Library Supervisor Ext. 6896 STARR PENNINGTON Library Assistant Ext 6894 MARIA MILLER Research Librarian Ext. 6895 ANN STRINGFIELD Information Specialist Ext. 6913 GENNIE GREENE Information Specialist Ext 6897 FOR COMPANY USE ONLY Vol. 24, No. 6, June 3, 1994

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NEWSBRIIEFS Tobacco International Apr 15, 1994, p. 11 WHERE THERE'S SMOKE.. ATLANTA, GEORGIA - Indoor air pollution may be the buzzword in some circles, but baseball fans in Atlanta are at a loss to explain a new ban on smoking at the open-air Atianta-Fulton County Stadium, one of numerous arenas that have adopted similar measures. Spectators will now have to go nine innings smoke-free or find one of a few designated smoking zones, thanks to the new policy. "It's an outdoor stadium, so I don't see what the big deal is," said one fan. -"The no smoking policy applies to seating areas, rest rooms, and concourses, but not to the team clubhouse or dugouts: The city's baseball team surveyed fans and found that 62% preferred restrictions on smoking in seating areas. But the survey found fans did not want an outright ban. Despite the tobacco restrictions, two MARLBORO billboards are inside the stadium:'This makes paying customers more uncomfortab(e-and feel unwelcome," said Tom. Lauria of the Tobacco Institute°''Espeitally with the outdoor stadiums, there is no logical explan_ationfortW'' Science News Vol.145,1994, p. 314 THE GREAT NICOTINE DEBATE: ARE CIGARETTE RECIPES 'COOKED' TO KEEP SMOKERS HOOKED? F ood and Drug Administration Commissioner David A. Kessler is- sued what amounted to a battle cr~- in February when he reported indica- tions that cigarette manufacturers fortih• low-tar brands with nicotine. Why would they do this? To ensure that all the nation's 50 million smokers maintain their addiction to tobacco. he said. If true. it means that the tobacco indus- try is deliberately fostering a physical need for a product that kills 434.000 Americans each year, according to the U.S. Surgeon General's latest estimates. Indeed, smoking-related illnesses ac- counted for nearfy one in five U.S. deaths in 1990-most of them from heart disease and cancer-states a report in the March 31 NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE (NEJM). An April 7 follow-up on ci,aa- rettes' economic toll by the same Univer- sity of Colorado School of Medicine tean-. estimated that a smoker's average life- time medical costs exceed a nonsmoker's by $6.000. ln response. the House Subcommittee on Health and the Environment cor:- vened a trio of hearings in March anz April. and more are planned. Kessler an _ Vol. 24, No. 6, June 3, 1994 several congressmen also have renewec calls for greater regulation of tobacco - perhaps as a drug - or for nicotinefre= cigarettes. Arguing that it does not add nicotine tr cigarettes, the tobacco industry mair.- tains that these recent salvos constitute nothing less than a move to prohibit th= sale and use of cigarettes. S ince cigarette companies have the technical know-how to eliminate nicotine, why don't they? It pro- vides "an important flavor to me:' ex- plains Alexander W. Spears. chief operat- ing officer of the New York City-based Lorillard. But other. nonaddictive compounds could provide the same biting. acrid flavor. so whv not use a substitute and "take the nicotine out of the product." w_ nar asked. "W hv should we take the nicotine out?" Spears responded. "It is integral to the Droduct" Waxman proposes either requiring manufacturers to take nicotine out or 1vEWSBRIEFs putting a label on cigarette packs warning against nicotine's addictive properties - something he says the industrv has suc- cessfully lobbied against in the past. New legislation would also step up policing of cigarette sales to minors. Figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that about 75 percent of smokers become addicted by age 18- before it is even legal for most of them to buy tobacco products. Contending that cigarettes are "the single most dangerous consumer product ever sold:' Waxman argues that such moves would constitute pretty tame med- icine. _ s19

NEWSBRIEFS Science News Val.145,1994, p. 308 NICOTINE - CHEWING ON IT During the past few months. events have focused a spotlight on the nicotine in cigarettes (see p. 314). But this poten- tially addictive drug natilrally laces smokeless tobaccos. too. Moreover. un- like cigarettes, snuff and chewing to- bacco labels do not disclose the amount of nicotine these products contain. Arguing that consumers have a right to such information, three researchers with the University of Alabama at Bir- mingham have just analyzed and pub- lished for the first time the nicotine content - by brand - of 11 of these smokeless products. They include the most popular moist snuffs as well as loose-leaf chewing and "plug" tobaccos. From a health perspective. nicotine intake is important because "it drives tobacco usage patterns," says oral pa- thologist Brad Rodu, who headed the study. And research has linked smoke- less tobacco not only to leukoplakia - oral calfouses-but also to the develop- ment of oral cancers. Five of the six analyzed snuffs led the list - carrying between 2.1 and 3.35 percent nicotine by weight. Manufac- turers tend to sweeten chewing to- baccos with sugar, which can dilute their nicotine content. notes Rodu. In- deed, the two plug tobaccos weighed in with a little more than 1.6 percent nicotineeach; thethree loose-leaf prod- ucts had 0.77 to 1.1 percent. Ironically, the product with the least amount of nicotine was a moist snuff: Conwood Co.'s Hawken brand pos- sessed just 0.59 percent of the drug by weight, the Birmingham team reports in the May.IOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN DEN- TAL ASSOCIATION. Studies show that smokeless-tobacco users subconsciously modulate how they use these products - such as by holding one wad in the cheek for 4 hours instead of replacing it every 30 min- utes - to achieve a relatively constant concentration of nicotine in the blood. In fact, Rodu notes. these tobacco users often obtain as much nicotine from their "habit" as do cigarette smokers. -J. Raloff Vol. 24, No. 6, June 3. 1994 Chemical & Engineering News May 16,1994, p. 40 PESTICIDE MAKERS MAKING HEADWAY WITH RISK ASSESSMENT ARGUMENT F or several years, representatives of agricultural chemical makers who tried to explain the intricacies of risk assessment to members of Congress met with blank stares. Persistence seems to have paid off, however, because Con- gress is beginning to give serious consid- eration to the usefulness of risk assess- ment in setting regulatory priorities and formulating final regulations on use of chemicals. More acceptance of risk assessment will help pesticide makers, whose prod- ucts for years have been the focus of legislative and regulatory activity. At a meeting of the National Agricultural Chemicals Assoaatfon (NACA) in Wash- ington, D.C, late last month, representa- tives from companies all over the coun- try were told how this shift in policy and how other pesticide issues will be han- dled by the government in the foresee- able future. Overall, there seems to be some movement toward softening the previ- ous hard-line stance on the toxicity of agricultural chemicals. The Adminis- tration's recent proposals to i'evise the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide & Ro- denticide Act (FIFRA) include provi- sions that would slightly modify the Delaney amendment, which bans from processed food any substance shown to be carcinogenic to humans or animals (C&EN, May 2, page 6). Legislation that would give the Environmental Protection Agency Cabinet-level status is tied up in the House because of insis- tence that the agency be required to perform cost-benefit analyses on its regulations. And EPA is at least talking about changing its guidelines on carci- nogecucity to allow wider use of avail- able scientific information. The result of this interest is that sev- eral bills have been introduced in the House and Senate that would put risk assessments done by EPA and the Oc- cupational Safety & Health Adminis- tration and other agencies on a more formal legal basis. But the confusion surrounding risk assessment is likely to keep any of these from being passed during this Congress.

NEWSBRIEFS Chemical & Engineering News May 16,1994, p. 47 COMPLEX REMOVES NITRIC OXIDE FROM COMBUSTION FLUE GAS Researchers at Lawrence Berkelev Laboratory have found that nitric oxide can be removed from flue gases by absorp- tion to an iron complex and subsequent reduction to ammo- nia. Combustion of fossil fuels generates sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide pollutants, which cause acid rain and urban smog. Existing flue-gas desulturization scrubbers use wet limestone processes that are effective at controlling sulfur dioxide emissions but incapable of removing water- insoluble nitric oxide. Hence, nitric oxide emissions current- ly are controlled in a separate postcombustion process. In an effort to side-step the need for this separate step, Eric K. Pham and Shih-Ger Chang of the Energy & Environment Division of LBL have developed an iron(II) thiochelate com- plex that absorbs nitric oxide and forms water-soluble iron ritrosyl complexes [Nature, 369,139 (1994)]. The bound nitric oxide can then be converted to ammonia by electrochemical reduction, regenerating the active iron(II) catalyst for contin- ued nitric oxide capture. ''Cur results suggest that this pro- cess can be readily integrated into existing wet limestone scrubbers for the simultaneous removal of sulfur dioxide and [nitric oxide]; ' the researchers say. Chemical & Engineering News May 16,1994, p. 41 PUBLIC PERCEPTION MAY NOT BE AN ACCURATE GAUGE OF RISKS "As a nation, we suffer from a syn- drome of paranoia and of neglect. We are frightened of every tiny concentra- tion of chemicals in our food, but tol- erant of major killers in our society." This was the message John D. Gra- ham, director of the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, had for the partici- pants at the spring conference of the National Agricultural Chemicals As- sociation last month. Graham's center has done many in-depth surveys of public opinion as it relates to risk. Graham's studies tell him that the U.S. public wants the government to do more risk assessments and more comparisons of costs and benefits. Survevs of U.S. citizens find 83% agreeing that the government should use risk assessments to identify seri- ous problems. "The only town [in which] I meet resistance to risk based priority setting is in Washington, D.C.," he says. Still, people believe that the num- ber of unseen environmental risks is increasing. "Public perception of envi- ronmental risk is particularly impor- tant Asked if environmental quality has gotten worse over the past 20 years, most respondents will say'yes; " Graham says. "If they are asked what the source of their most serious health risk is, most think that chemicals in the envinanment are more of a risk than are personal habits." This is de- spite research that shows that 85% of premature deaths are caused by life- style situations. Graham makes his point by ana- lyzing deaths and injuries from trau- ma-accidents and violence. "All of the deaths due to trauma injury cost the economy as much as cancer and heart disease," " Graham says. Yet al- most no research funds are directed toward reducing trauma injuries. He thinks that a little money invested in this area would reap bigger gains in health than spending in areas that AtEWSPRiEFs the public considers more important. Rather than requiring municipali- ties and companies to spend millions of dollars for marginal environmen- tal benefits, Graham advocates that communities be given money to spend on more pressing problems. Some 'of the investments these com- munities might choose include home- less shelters, drug and alcohol treat- ment facilities, cancer screening pro- grams, prenatal care programs, violence reduction seminars, even painting clearer lines down the centers of roads to reduce the number of traffic accidents. While not saying that real environ- mental risks don't still exist, Graham urges the U.S. to change its percep- tions and move on to other problems. "This country cannot continue to spend big money on very marginal risks while ignoring other enonnous health risks in our society," he concludes. Vol. 24. No. 6. June 3. 1994

NEWSBRIEFS New York Times May 16,1994, p. A1, A12 PHILIP MORRIS ON OFFENSIVE IN CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES. May I i - For the last five years, California has been the national leader in the fight against smoking. using a combination of restrictions, taxes and advertising campaigns to reduce cigarette con- sumption by almost 30 percent. Now, with smoking higher than ever on the nation's health agenda and other states beginning to look to California as the model for ways to combat it, the country's largest to- bacco company, Philip Morris, has begun an all-out counterattack in- tended to slow and then roll back the nationwide drive toward more strin- gent smoking laws. Through the help of a political con- sulting firm and at a cost of more than $500,000, the company has used street canvassers and phone banks to gather enough petition signatures throughout the state to place a strong proposal favoring smoking on the bal- lot in November. Generally speaking, the proposal would replace some 270 stringent lo- cally enacted smoking laws in Calf- fornia with a single, less stringent statewide law. More to the point, it would let business and building own- ers rather than government officials decide where to permit smoking, so long as it was in specifically designat- ea. weli-ventilated areas. -Philip Morris's campaign is be- lieved to be the first time that any area of the cigarette industry ha= taken a proposal in favor of smokinr to voters statewide. And the compamts prepared to spend a much more on its-efforts, but it will not disclose how r>Auch. -:`All we seek is uniformity and to provide fairness for both smokers and nonsmokers," said Lee Stitzen- lierger. the consultant hired by Philip Morns to run its campaign in Califor- nia. "We sav let businesses and build- ing owners decide whether they want to~allow smoking and whether that will bring in or run off customers. - "A lot of people, especially restau- rant owners, tell us smoking bans have cost them 20 percent or more of t#teir business if they're in a locality that forbids smoking and the next iown over doesn't forbid.it." bpponents of smoking contend the effort has nothing to do with fairness and uniformity and everything to do with selling cigarettes and rolling back the anti-smoking movement. Vol. 24, No. 6, June 3. 1994 Tl+ey also contend that the cam- p'aisn's supporters misled many, of ttte 607.000 people who signed the petttton sheets necessary to qualify the proposal for the November ballot. : ="Philip Morris has decided to make California the front line of the stnoktng war," said Julia Carol, a director of Americans For Non- Smokers' Rights, a national group based in Berkle,y, Calif. "They figure if:thev can win here, they can win pttywiiere. And to do it, they've passed around a pro-smoking petition th'at` they deliberately mislabeled a 'tobacco control' act. Control?" State election officials have agreed to investigate whether the petition campaign was properly conducted. "We've had hundreds of calls and letters complaining about the tactic," said-Melissa Warren, Chief Assistant Secretary of State. "They could jeop- ardize the qualification of the meas- ure for the ballot if we find there's sufficient cause." Campaign supporters say their pe- tition pitch was not misleading. .Keep in mind that this intitiative would extend smoking regulations to hundreds of places that currently don't have them." said Mr. Stttzen- berger. "We're also proposing strict- er rules on use of tobacco by youths. And we're not proposing :o change anything about smoking in public places." Whatever the case. the Philip Mor- ris counterattack is so high-profile, sc, fraught with the possibility of stun- ning public victory or defeat, that the rest of the tobacco industry. which has typically preterred to quietly push bills favoring smoking in state legislatures, has chosen to let Philip Morris proceed alone. At State Capital Level "Philip Morris briefed us and ol- fered us an option to be a part of it but we decided not to," said Maura Ellis, a spokeswoman for R. J. Reynolds, another leading American tobacco company. "We felt we had made our views known in various other ways. We may join in the future. Never say never." in most states, the tobacco industr}' concentrates most of its legal efforts at the capital, and in many capitals, including those of California and New York, few industries spend more heavily or freely. Company lobbyists tend to work in concert and lately they have been pushing hard for weak statewide smoking restrictions, the NEWSBRIF.liS intent being, as with the Philip Morris ballot initiative, to undercut patch- works of stronger, locally enacted restrictions. But the industry has made little headway with the legislative ap- proach, despite an especially deter- mined effort in Sacramento, the Cali- fornia capital, and in the meantime more and more cities and towns across the country are passing smok- ing ordinances. In fact, Philip Morris officials say it was just such lack of success in the state legislature that led them to go the initiative routc here. I he officials argue that they have a reasonable chance of success with the ballot initiative because polls indi- cate that few Antcricans favor a total ban on smoking and that many favor permitting smoking in designated, ,.vell-ventilated areas. If successful, ihe initiative would drastically undercut the tough smok- ing bans enacted in recent years by the 270 California communities, in- cluding Los Angeles and San Francis- co. It would send a message that if smoking bans can be overturned and weakened in the nation's most popu- lous and most virulently anti-smok- ing state, they can probably be over- turned and weakened in just about attv nthrr slate. Other States Looking Encouraged by California's suc- cess thus far in controlling tobacco, other states have begun taking a close Icmk at its model. especialh• the state tax and anti-smoking advertis- ing programs. Among them are Ari- zorrt. Arkansas, Colorado, Massachu- setts, Oregon and Virginia. A victory here by Philip Morris would also probably have major im- pact in Washington. Over the last few months, Congress has begun taking a more active interest in the smoking issue and the way the tobacco indus- try operates and is regulated. Many of California's smoking bans prohibit or strictly limit smoking in offices, restaurants and public build- ings. For example, no smoking is permitted in indoor restaurants in Los Angeles, and in San Francisco it is difficult to find an indoor smoking area other than in the home. Unlike in most other states, tobac- co companies have directly chal- lenged sonie local smoking regula- tions in California, including the Los Angeles and San Francisco ordi- nances. Thus far, the companies have enjoyed minimal success.

NEWSBRIEFS For the most part, California is the national leader when it comes to con- trolling smoking because of passage in 1988 of another ballot initiative - one that imposed higher taxes on tobacco products and mandated that some of the increased revenue be handed over to communites for use in anti-smoking campaigns. Since then, numerous anti-smoking community groups have sprung up and manv have strongly backed strict local smoking regulations. At the same time, many have also begun extensive anti-smoking advertising and education campaigns, often aim- ing their pitches at young people. Effect of Campai}•n The result? Tobacco consumption is down 30 percent in California, comoared with 10 percent in most other states, ac- cording to studies by the University of California. Further, the smoking rate among teen-agers hnrv is lev,rl- ing off whereas it continues to risv in most other states. Over the last several years, some of the increased revenue produced by the higher tobacco tax has been di- verted by the state from the tobacco education and advertising programs to various general health programs run by the state. State officials argue that this is a legitimate use of the money under the 1988 initiative. But anti-smoking groups contend that the officials are reacting to pressure from the tobacco industry, and they have filed suit to halt the diversions. "The industry never gives up," said Ms. Carol of Americans for Non- Smoker's Rights, "and that's our challenge. If we ever cave, especially in California, it won't be long before states with a lot less clout begin to crumble. Then we'll loose this war." news media, are primarily memos in which executives discuss whether to release some of their studies cr withhold them to protect business interests. Some portray soul-searching by company officials on how to pro- ceed. But a lengthy and bluntly worded memo written in 1963 by Addison Yeaman, then the corpora- tion's general counsel, said: "We are, then, in the business of selling nicotine, an addictive drug." The memo added that cigarettes help ease stress and prevent weight gain but also cause or predispose smokers to lung cancer, contribute to heart disease and "may well be truly causative in emphysema, etc., etc." Brown & Williamson says the documents were stolen by a dis- gruntled former employee who is trying to sabotage the LouisvillF, Ky., company, and that they have been taken out of context. The company contends Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., pos- sesses the original stolen docu- ments and won't let the company see them so it can decide whether to respond to growing news media reports about them. On Monday, Jefferson County, Ky., Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wine ordered Waxman, fellow smoking opponent Rep. Ron Wy- den, D-Ore., and reporters posses- sing copies of the documents to let the company view them. Brown & Williamson spokesman Tom Fitzgerald said subpoenas based on the court order would reach Waxman and others by noon today. Waxman aides were consulting with lawyers about the court order, and had no immediate comment. Waxman, whose House Energy and Commerce health subcommit- tee has spearheaded recent attacks on the tobacco industry, possesses boxes of industry documents indi- cating what the companies knew about their products and when. Greensboro News & Record 17-May-1994 , p. B5 RJR EXEC RELINQUISHES CIGARETTE MANAGEMENT Greensboro News & Record 17-May-1994 , p. B4 TOBACCO FIRM WINS LOOK AT LEAKED MEMO WASHINGTON - A tobacco company won court permission Monday to subpoena two promi- nent congressmen and reporters in its defense against charges that cig- arette makers conspired against Americans' health. At issue are internal documents indicating that executives at Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. knew 30 years ago that smoking was dan- gerous and nicotine was addictive, and that they developed but shelved a safer cigarette. The documents, leaked to the NEWSBRIEES James W. Johnston, chairman and chief executive of R.J. Reyn- olds Tobacco in Winston-Salem, will turn over daily management of the company's domestic cigarette operations to Andrew J. Schindler. "Turning over the day-to-day management of the domestic busi- ness to Andy will enable me to focus on strategies for aggressively building our business around the world as well as external strategy development," Johnson said. Schindler, 49, joined R.J. Reyn- olds Industries in 1974 and most recently was executive vice presi- dent of operations. Wall Street Journal May 17,1994, p. A14 EX-ATTORNEY GENERAL HELPS TOBACCO COMPANY'S EFFORT LOUISVII.LE, Ky.-Former Attorney General Griffin Bell is helping Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. control the damage from a trove of confidential company documents that has been circu- lated to government officials, antito- bacco activists and the news media. Brown & Williamson, a unit of B.A.T Industries PLC, said a state judge in Kentucky issued a court order requiring Henry A. Waxman, (D., Calif.) to allow B&W to review company documents in his possession. Rep. Waxman has been chairing hearings investigating the to- bacco industry. B&W said the court order would also extend to Congressman Ron Wyden, (D., Ore.) and some news organizations. B&W said the documents were stolen from its law firm by a former paralegal. The documents include a 31-year-old memo in which a B&W executive dis- cusses the addictive properties of nico- tine. They also depict internal discus- sions about producing safer cigarettes. Mr. Bell said B&W's position "should not be based on isolated remarks made by individuals in 30-year-old docu- ments." Vol. 24, No. 6, June 3. 1994

RIEFS NEWSB Wall Street Journal May 17, 1994 , p. A16 B.A.T. INTERNATIONAL TO MAKE $200 MILLION OUTLAY IN UZBEKISTAN LONDON - British tobacco company B.A.T lndustries PLC. making its bigges; investment vet in the former Soviet blo1-. said it will spend S200 million to modernize and buy control of the state tobacco-pro:•- essing industry in Uzbekistan. The central Asian republic is a big tobacco growing and smoking zone, but it exports most of its tobacco to other former Soviet republics where it's rolled and re- turned for smoking. The B.A.T agreement is intended to reverse that trend, bolster- ing local cigarette production against the imports that dominate the market. The Uzbek investment confirms B.A.T's role as one of the industry's most aggressive international investors, follow- ing its $1 billion purchase last month of the tobacco business of American Brands Inc. In the East, it has invested about $35 million in a Ukrainian cigarette factory and S30 million for one in Hungary. The company also is discussing possible invest- ments in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Moldova and Poland, a B.A.T spokesman said. The Uzbek deal - following a similar, S200 million investment announced late last year in Kazakhstan by Philip Morris Cos. - underscores how eagerly the West- ern tobacco industry is rushing into the East these days. After China and the U.S., the former Soviet Union is the world's biggest ciga- rette market and the region has little of the health-awareness that is currently damping tobacco demand in the West. Many Western public-health authorities have decried the industr,v's eastward push. Defending the investment from what he called "the antismoking point of view," the B.A.T spokesman said: "It's hardly as if we are introducing the habit of smoking cigarettes in these places. But what the consumers there would like to have is high-quality cigarettes." Wall Street Journal May 17, 1994, p. B8 AT THE CHECKOUT Fastest declining product categories' based on super- market sales during the 12 weeks ended March 27 DrEWSBRIEFs Vol. 24. No. 6, June 3. 1994 - ~ 24

NEWSBRIEFS New York Times May 18, 1994 , p. A18 CIGARETTE MAKER TAKES THE OFFENSE ON CAPITOL HILL WASHINGTON. Mav 17, - Tne po- litical skirmish between touacco comaanies and tneir Capitol Hiit cr:; tcs escalated tooav as a witness at a House hearing accused a cigarette maker of trying to stifle his testtmO- ny, and the same company suopoe- naed six news reporters and two members of the House. Both actions arose from growing efforts by the company, the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation, to deal with the public disclosure of in- ternal documents on the hazards of cigarette smoking that the company said were stolen from it. in the first instance, the Carter Administration's Health Secretary, Joseph A. Califano Jr., said in House testimony that Brown & Williamson tried to silence him by sending him a letter on Monday suggesting that any testimony mentioning the internal documents might violate a restrain- ing order issued in January by a county judge in Louisville, Ky. Mr. Califano, a lawyer, ignored the warning and spoke today at length about the documents, some of which showed that company officials chose to conceal internal • evidence in the 1960's and 1970's that cigarettes were addictive. The documents have re- cently been cited in articles in The New York Times and reports by oth- er news organizations. Mr. Califano told the health and environment suocommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Com- mittee that he would 'nave sought u.• regulate cigarettes as an addictive drug when he was Secretary had he known of the company's conclustons. And he called the company's letter to him on Monday "ludicrous." `Attempt to Intimidate' "I am appalled someone woulo send me something like this," Mr. Calitano said, referring to the letter "it is a blatant attempt to tnumtdate me and scare me oft from testitytng here today. I will not be intimidated." Brown & Williamson later issued a statement expressing surprise at Mr Califano's remarks and accusing him of exaggerating for political etfect the company's actions. But tne comnanv•s Qrave view (,i tne ntsciosur, ot the documents wa_ unaerscored later in tne aav, wnen i~ Utstrtct of Columbia murnctoal cou- tssued suoooenas to tne six renorter: ano the two Kenresentarnves. henr•, waxman ot Cantornta and Ron W\ :• aen ol uregon. both Democra:s. I ne remainina suopoenas were issued tc, a renorter in the Washtneton bureatu of Tne New York T tmes. Philip J. Hiits. and to Jonn Schwartz of The Vol. 24, No. 6, ,iune 3. 1994 Washington Post. Doug Levy of USA Todav. Claudia MacLechlan of th! National Law daurnul. Linda liougla~ of CBS News and Ricnard Harris oi National Public Radio. Tne subooenas ordered all eight people to orovide Brown & William- son witn any of its confidential docu- ments in their oossesston. In tne subpoenas, Brown & Wil- liamson did not seek to seize the documents permanently, but only to make copies of them. Tne company's apparent intention is to determine what documents have been given to lawmakers and reporters. to make it easier for the company to determine who provided them. Focus on Law Clerk The companv-s suspects include a former clerk at Brown & William- son's Louisville law firm, Merrell Williams, who company officials have accused of illegally making pho- tocopies of confidential papers in the law firm's files. Mr. Williams sued the company last year, claiming heart damage. caused by 29 years of smoking. Brown & Williamson has sued Mr. Williams, too, charging him with; stealing the documents, but company officials said he did not appear in' Louisville for a court-approved depo- sition. A company spokesman. Joel Helewicz, satd toda}•: "Those oocu-j ments, we believe, are stolen docu-; ments, stolen by a former law firm paralegal. Those documents are cov- ered by attorney-cltent privilege and a court iniunction." Mr. Waxman, the chairman of the health subcommittee, and Mr. Wyden said today that they would ignore the subpoenas. A lawyer for The Times, Adam Liptak, said the rewspaper would resist the subpoenas in court. "They seek unpublished iniorma- tion, gathered in the course of jour- naltstic activities, as well as materi- als that may tend to identity a confi- dential source," Mr. Ltptak said. "Brown & Williamson is not entitled to this tntormation under the shield laws and the First Amenoment." Constitutional Protection Tne general counsel for the House of Representatives, Thomas Spulak, said members were generally pro- tected by the Constitution's speech- and-denate provision, which exempts their official actions from outside le- gal action. The Supreme Court has extended that shield to Congressional committees. Mr. Spulak said, and the NEWSBRIEFS House will probably argue that as a result the subpoenas have no legal force. Mr. Wvaen called his subpoena "lit- tle more than an attempt to divert attention" from the damning nature of the documents. "The Health and Environmental Subcommittee, on which I serve, has been engaged in a lawful and tmpor- tant investigation into the actions of the tobacco industry," he said. "No one, not even the tobacco companies, can interfere with that." Today's House hearing was calle: to review a sheaf of documents tha: Brown & Williamson and other tobac- co companies had furnished at the committee's request. But Brown L Williamson requested a delay in its appearance, and Mr. Califano, nov, president of Columbia University : Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, was the only witness. Mr. Califano said he had spoken to President Jtmmv Carter and tormer Surgeon General Julius Richmond in recent days anout the findings d!s- closed in the Brown & Wilitamson documents. 'Had We Known' "We all agreed to this," ne said. "Had we known then what the tobac- co companies knew, and had we been privy to their research on the addic- tive nature of nicotine and their abili- ty to manipulate the amount of mco- tine in cigarettes, the 1979 Surgeon General's report would have found cigarettes addictive, and we would nave moved to regulate them." The Surgeon General did not ee- ciare cigarettes addictive until 190~., and the Food and Drug Admtntstra- tton, which regulates addictive drugs, has not ruled that they fall within its jurisdiction. Brown & Williamson sought to counter the disclosures of its re- search today by releasing edited summaries of four other internal studies that the company said had reached "no conclusion" that nti;otine is addictive. The summaries, dating to the 1960's. nevertheless assumed that nicotine was addictive but added that the means by which it became addic- tive was not clear. They also stated that animals developed a toierance to ntcottne. a significant sign ol its ao- dicuve properties. "Present results offer no conclu- stve evidence tor am parucutar mechantsm involved in tolerance to nicotine, nor do they indicate a leaa to [he phenomenon of addiction." said ane summary, entitled "The Fate cf Nicotine in the Body." "We believe that both tolerance and addiction are intimately connected. and that tt would be most useful to mvesttgate [he two phenomena .... in target or- aans of the central nervous system."