*Council for Tobacco Research-- U.S.A. Inc. CTR
(Formerly Tobacco Industry Research Committee (TIRC)) Created and funded by the tobacco industry to award grants to study of the link between smoking and disease. Part of a four decade effort to cast doubt on the links between smoking and disease.The abbreviation for Council for Tobacco Research is CTR. They are located in New York, NY and are successors in interest to the Tobacco Industry Research Committee/The Tobacco Institute Research Committee? (TIRC) (D.B., complaint, 4/94). They are a non-profit corporation organized under the laws of New York state, with its principal place of business located at 900 3rd Avenue, New York, NY 10022 (D.B., complaint, 4/94). The CTR receives about $20 million annually from the tobacco industry in 1994 (WP 5/27/94). James Glenn was a chairman and CEO of the CTR in 1994. (WP 5/27/94). They were funded and formed by the tobacco industry (Jenkins, p. 165) to award research grants for the study of the link between smoking and disease (Jenkins, p. 185). For almost four decades, the CTR has been the hub of a massive effort to cast doubt on the links between smoking and disease. Sponsored by U.S. tobacco companies and long run behind the scenes by tobacco-industry lawyers, the ostensibly independent council has spent millions of dollars advancing sympathetic science. At the same time, it has sometimes disregarded, or even cut off, studies of its own that implicated smoking as a health hazard (WSJ 2/11/93). Hill & Knowlton founder John Hill met with the heads of major tobacco companies at New York's Plaza Hotel on December 15/1953 per a H&K memo, "They feel that they should sponsor a public relations compaign that is positive in nature and is entirely pro-cigarette (WP 5/27/94). Two weeks later (12/53), H&K proposed an organization whose goal would be reassurance of the public. It is important that the public recognize the existence of weighty scientific views which hold there is no proof that cigarette smoking is a cause of lung cancer. (WP 5/27/94). A 1954 H&K memo to the Tobacco Industry Research Council said that the TIRC should sponsor genuinely objective research and bring to public attention the fact that there is now inconclusive proof that cigarette smoking is a cause of lung cancer or other serious problems of human health. (WP 5/27/94). In the second year of operation in 1955?, there was 35 H&K publicists working with the TIRC (WP 5/27/94. Per Bill Shinn at 11/15/78 meeting in New York, as described in R.B. Seligman's 11/17/78 memorandum, The CTR began as an organization called Tobacco Industry Research Council (TIRC). It was set up as an industry shield in 1954. That was the year statistical accusations relating smoking to diseases were leveled at the industry. Litigation began and the Wynder/Graham reports were issued. CTR has helped the tobacco industry's legal counsel by giving advice and technical information which was needed at court trials. CTR has provided spokesmen for the industry at Congressional hearings. The monies spent on CTR provides a base for introduction of witnesses. Bill Shinn feels that special projects are the best way that monies are spent. On these projects, CTR has acted as a front. However, there are times when CTR has been reluctant to serve in that capacity. Bill Shinn mentioned that the public relations value of CTR must be considered and continued. It is extremely important that the industry continue to spend their dollars on research to show that we don't agree that the case against smoking is closed. There is a CTR basket which must be maintained for "PR purposes. (Judge H.L. Sarokin, Haines opinion 2/6/94. Haines documents in limits #1003718428 et seq.)