Tobacco Documents Online

~ 330 west 42nd S1'reec'New lbrk NY Y0036' (?11) 7316'-?0f0 / Potx (212) 736-8396 2640Q Lohser Road Suite 312 SoutMield M148034 (3/3) 35?-92?0 / Fox: (313! 3;52-9226 '125'Biscavne Bauevard Miami FL ,;313' (305) 576-358! / Fox (305) 570-3044 6430iWeslSunsetBhd.losAnKpfft!90GJ28 (?13)993-0Yl1 /For (213) 4677540 Ci9 361 Newbury Street Bosfon. MA 021 15 (801366-30y%Fax ffif;7 266-13C1' 1p0 fost N nm At-enue- Denver CO 90203 (303)Q61-715Y/Fax,(303,) 832-4y04 212 West 5upe norS6leeY, Ch,coqo, IL 60670' (3f?) 6I9- ~I %Fax: (3 12) 64 9-7527 2YrL 96% 21 7r 7055 ( )' ( ) 630OakwaadAhenue WestHaetfo d CT 001f0 (203) 953-1e89 /'Fox (203) 953-'1713 1930 Chestnut Street Phlraca2lphro. PA 19103 (20) 56 9.1990 V'Fa x: (,715156 3-1985 1066 NotionafPress Buildr~ng Woslirnq fbn DC 20045 (102),393-71d0 J Fax, (20z) 393-5457 1W51 FauAh AHenue, Son D o. C; a2?01 (dd9),54M-18i60 / Fox (o1p-0230 730 Hbrrnson Street Son Francisco C-a 94107 (05) 5I3-33d1 /Fax (415) 543'oi48 1026C'Westhermer Houston iD077042 (7f3) 780-16'35 L Fox (713) 789-0980 DATE March 7, 1994 TIME 8:00-9:00 PM(ET)' NETWORK PROGRW ABC-TV Day One A Aflifiate TRANSCRIPT Forest Sawyer, anchor: We begin tonight with our continuing investigation into cigarettes and what's inside them. Now', we've uncovered' what the government has known for years--that there are ingredients in cigarettes that are'potentially toxic. It's known~because it's had a list of all the ingredients added to cigarettes, yet it has done nothing' about it. Last week we'reported evidence that tobacco companies are carefully controlling the nicotine levels in cigarettes and that investigation got the attention~ of'many people', includimgithe head of the Food and Drug Administration. Just before'our broadcast last week, the FDA issued a letter saying it's considering whether to regulate tobacco products as drugs. The FDA even suggestedithat cigarettes as they are now manufacturedi could be taken off the market. As it turned out, that was just the beginning of our investigation. John. Martin has startlinginew information about your cigarettes' ingredients and why they've beenisecret for so long. John Martin reporting: It was allong time'coming for anti-smoking advocates. After years of frustration, they are suddenly hopeful, calling members of Congress. Unidentified Representative of Coalition on Smoking OR Health: I'm calling toltalk to you about what the FDA is planning to do. In light of what's happening, I just want to give you an update. Scott Balini('Coalition oniSmoking OR H'ealth) : The dam has broken and the'floodwaters are spilling out and we're trying to respond as best we can. Martin: Last week, Day One reported for the first time evidence that cigarette companies manipulate levels off nicotine, a highly addictive drug, to keep people smoking. We found manufacturers add nicotine in carefully calibrated doses to fortify the tobacco wastee products'they insert in cigarettes and to replenish nicotine lost in processing. . Materrol supplied'byV,deo. Monitoring Serwces:of Americo.. lnc.may tiee used for internal ieview, analysis or research onlyAny editing.reproducfron, publication, re, broadcbsnng, public showing or public drsplay vs fbrbidden and may violate copyright low: A'videotape of this transcript is at•arlob/e in onvformo+Ybr a penad of 31 days from air date. oudo cassettes . for 14 davs Call ony VMS office

-2- Cliff Douglass (American Cancer Society): The public doesn''t know that the industry manipulates nicotine--takes it out, puts it back in, uses it as if it were sugar being put into candy. They don't have a c1ue. Martin: The FDA letter ten days ago cited evidencee suggesting that nicotime is used `to satisfy ann add'iction of some smokers' (Marlboro, Winston, Camel cigarettes shown). The cigarette makers deny the charges. They contend nicotine is not even addictive. Besides, they say, they do `not increase the nicotine in cigarettes above what is found naturally in tobacco.'' Following our broadcast, editorial writers started asking questions. A House Subcommittee scheduled hearings late this month to examine the indostry's use of nicotine. In the Senate, Ted Rennedy asked the General Accounting Office to investigate nicotine manipulation by cigarette companies. Ted Kennedy (Senator) : My sense is that if, the investigation by the governmental agency provides the Congress andithe American people with the facts on this, as brought out on your excellent report, that, I believe, can be the straw that breaks the back of the real power of the cigarette indhstry. Martin: There''s no better example of that power than the story of the list--the list of additives manufacturers put into cigarettes. Under the law the list is provided to the government but kept secret to American consumers. What's on the list and what's not on it tell much about the power of the tobacco lobby, it's demands for secrecy and the government''s failure to regulate this industry. Congressman Ron Wydeni has seen the list. Ron Wyden (Representative, Oregpn, Democrat): We now know that there are chemicals in tobacco prodiucts that are so toxic they wouldh't be allowed in a landfill under the federal environmental rules. Martin: Even so, consumers can't find out what those chemicals are. Michael Ericksoni(;?') (Federal Office of' Smoking andi Health' of the Department of Health and Hiuman Services):. It's a felony offense for me to reveal to you' or to th®e public or to a smoker who is interested, what ingredients are actually included in tobacco. N O N O N ~ N N OD

-3- Martin: Michael Erickson heads the Federal Office of Smoking and Health. It's part of'the Department of Health and Human Services. He knows what additives are in cigarettes because each~year tobacco companies are required by law to give him the list. He, in~turn, can sharethe list only with certain government officials. Why? Brennan Dawson represents.the cigarette companies for the Tobacco~Institute. Brennan Dawson (Tobacco Institute): The industry, like any other industry of'consumer products, wants to make sure that those things that are.trade secrets are kept as trade secrets., Martin: (To Brennan) A lot of'the food products that we see have ingredients and they list the ingredients. Sometimes they even list the percentage of ingredients. Dawson: And, in that list of ingredients, you'll see words like `flavorings' where the manufacturers,are not required to,, in fact, turn~over what can~only be termed a 'recipe.' Martin: I don't think anyone's asking for the recipe., Dawson: The manufacturers provide the list to the federal government. Martin: (To Ron,Davis), Couldithe President of the UnitediStates look at the list if he wanted to see it? Ron Davis (Office of'Smoking and'Health): He would probably have to~be designated as an employee of trhe. Department of Health and Services to look at the list.: Martin,: Ron Davis was Michael Erickson's predecessor, running the.Office of Smoking and Health. Davis: I think it's absurdlthat a product that's used by forty-five million Americans is used by those people without them knowing what's in the prodiuct. Martin: The list of additives is so secret that Doctor Davis was required to keep it under lock and key. Davis: Outside my office, the director's office was the safe. Martin: The safe? Davis: The safe. It usually took me three or four minutes to get into the safe. It's not just the normal lock where you have to:turn to three different numbers. N' C ~V' ~ C f-h ~ N N ~

Martin: The Office of Smoking and~Health, now headediby Dr. Krickson, is located here iniAtlanta. When Day One asked to videotape the safe, the staff member assignedd to show us around1wouldn't even tell us in whichilocked'i room it was located. When we asked him why, this was his response. Unidentified'Staff Member of the Office of Smoking and Health: (Puts handiin,front of camera) I dbn't want to lose my job. Martin: This has the scent of the Cold War, nuclear weapons, need to know. How canithat be compatible with the health organization that's trying to protect the citizens? Davis: It implies that our society will be:irreparably damagediif somehow people find out what the:cigarette companies are putting in cigarettes, which is absurd. Martin: So, what is actually on the list?' ('Kool, Camel, More, Newport, Marlboro, Winston cigarettes, among others are shown) As many as seven hundred' additives to cigarettes. Dr. Erickson offered one clue about what he called a special category. Erickson: There are thirteen ingredients that are not allowed to be added to food'but which are added to cig,arettes. Martini: Day One has learned that two of those thirteen additives should have tipped off the government to the: tobacco industry's manipulation of'nicotine in cigarettes. (yisual of door bearing the message 'Keepi Doors Locked) Those two ingredients are tobacco extracts, which frequently is rich in nicotine, and! nicotine:sulfate, or salt. The list has contained these items for at least two years, yet the government did nothing about them. Matthew Myers (Coalition on Smoking OR Health): It's inexcusable that government scie tists haven't acted before now to take strong a~ction, demanding that that nicotine either be removed or that regulatory authority over tobacco products be expanded. It's inexcusable. Martin: The government just didn't do its job is what you're saying. Myers: The government just didn't do it's job, is. absolutely correct.

-5 ~- Martin: We calledi around Washington to findi out why the list was apparently ignored by the people who couldihave done something with it. The Surgeon General, on the job six months today, hadn't been briefed'on the list. The Secretary of Health and'Human Services, who technically receives the list, has the authority to warn~authority about dangerous ingredients, but never has. The law firm that compiles the list with the large tobacco companies declined to'talk on camera. Until now, the idea here in Washington seems to have been worry about the smokers but spare the tobacco companies. Kennedy: The cigarette industry reminds me very clearly of the National Rifle Association. The power of the industry, of extraordinary corporate weaTth~and influence. Martin: How did this list come about in the first place? And why is it secret?' For years, what health advocates really wanted was a law requiring a list of ingredients on every pack of cigarettes. But the tobacco companies resisted, so~about ten years ago, in a compromise arrangedithrough Congress, the companies agreed to give the government the list, but not consumers. It was up to the government to do something with the list, but it never did. Myers: The public health community demanded of the government scientists that they do~something with that list or, if they didn't have the resources to~dio it, that they publish the list, so that those of us in the private sector, couldido:the research. Nonetheless, DHHS, every year, said 'No, it's our responsibility. We can't release the information and1we'll get to it when we have time.'' They never found the time. Martin: Why wasn't Congress rushing to use the list to learn more about a product that kills four hundred thousandi Americans every year?' Ask Doctor Sidney Wolf, a leading public health advocate. Doctor Sidney Wolf (Leading Public Health Adwocate):~ one would have to look at the thirty years since the. Surgeon General''s Report and say the tobacco industry has had a nearly perfect victory record initerms of defeating any kind of legislation that's come across. And~the way in which they've done it is by buying out members of Congress. Martin: A study by Dr. Wolf ('`The Congressional Addiction to Tobacco-How the Tobacco Lobby Suffocates Federal HealthiPolicy' is shown) showed the tobacco, industry gave millions of dollars in campaign contributions to Congress, to tobacco state members and

-6- key leaders. Among the top recipients, Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, House Majority Leader, Richard Gephardt, and House Ways andiMeans Chairman, Dan Rostenkowski. The tobacco lobby also taught public figures that taking on tobacco can be dangerous to yourr political health. Joseph Califano(?) was Secretary of Health Educationiand Welfare in Jimmy Carter's Cabinett when he attacked the cigarette makers. Joseph Califano (Former Secretary of Health Education and Welfare): It ultimately cost me my job as Secretary of Health Education. I remember Senator Kennedy said to me, 'There's no way the Presidient can run for re-electioniwith you inithe Cabinet.' Speaker O'Neil told me that. But I'want tolsay something important about President Carter. Since then, he has talked to me and indeed he said to me, `You were right and I was wrong about cigarettes.' Martin: Califano says the FDA's announcement that it might regulate cigarettes indicates that Commissioner David Kess1!er(?') may lead a turnaround inside thee government. Califano: I wish that when I'had been Secretary we had been imaginative enough and thoughtful enough and aggressive enough to do what he did in his stand in nicotine and in what I think what will spark now major Congressional activity. ~ Wyden: As far as I'm concerned, what needs toibe done next is to make that list public. The public has aa right to:know. Martin: That, in turn,, could force the:tobaicco industry to do something it has never before been required to do. Myers: The tobacco industry is the only industry in this entire nation that is permittedito,put chemicalss and other additives into its product without first provingithat those chemicals are safe and effective. Martin: All of this means the tobacco companies may f ce new challenges in court. If juries decide the companies are intentionally addicting people, smoking victims could claim hundreds of' millions of dollars in damages. Until now, the cigarette companies have managed to protect themselves fromilawsuits, from regulators, and especially from Congress. But that may be changing.