67 



No one could argue that there is a natural occurrence of nicotine 

 in the paper, they may say that for the tobacco. 



They can spray it on. They can add it to the filter paper, they 

 can enhance the contents with a liquid. They can take an extract. 

 This, to me, is absolutely astounding. 



Mr. Kessler. Again, I just need to be careful that these are pat- 

 ents. I want to underscore that. 



Mr. Waxman. It shows the capability. But it shows that they 

 were interested in developing that capability. 



You have indicated that there is a company that you know of 

 that did studies in the 1980's that must have led them to under- 

 stand that nicotine is addicting. 



Mr. Kessler. Self-reinforcing in rats. 



Mr. Waxman. Self-reinforcing in rats is the way that we decide 

 whether a substance is addicting. If they knew that nicotine was 

 addicting and they could add and play with the nicotine levels, 

 they knew that they could get people hooked on tobacco. 



You are going to give us that information about the name of the 

 company, and unless you can give me a reason not to reveal that 

 publicly, I plan to make that public because I think we ought to 

 know a company that may well be telling us they never knew about 

 tobacco nicotine being addicting. I would like to have their response 

 as to whether they knew it or not, based on the fact they funded 

 a study and then suppressed that very study. 



Mr. Kessler. Again, we will give you the facts that we have, and 

 you can assess them and do any investigation. 



Mr. Waxman. Thank you Dr. Kessler. 



Mr. Bliley. 



Mr. Bliley. Dr. Kessler, it may be well known that denatured 

 alcohol, number 4, SD-4 trade name, and certain tobacco flavors 

 used during the manufacturing process contain minuscule quan- 

 tities of nicotine. However, the total contribution of nicotine from 

 these two sources is so small that it cannot be detected in the to- 

 bacco by standard laboratory methods and has no effect whatsoever 

 on the nicotine delivery as determined by the Federal Trade Com- 

 mission. 



Let's first examine the effect of alcohol. Alcohol is used as a sol- 

 vent and carrier for flavors in the cigarette industry as well as in 

 the food and beverage industry. The denatured alcohol used is spe- 

 cifically denatured alcohol number 4, which is specifically approved 

 by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms under the Federal 

 regulation 27 CFR section 21.38. 



The alcohol is denatured with small amounts of nicotine sulphate 

 for the sole purpose to render it undrinkable. The graph shows the 

 relative quantity of nicotine indirectly added to tobacco from the 

 use of SD-4 alcohol. In processed tobacco, there are approximately 

 15,000 parts per million of nicotine. The contribution from alcohol 

 is on the order of two parts per million; two parts per million of 

 nicotine is too small to be measured in the final product. 



Dr. Kessler, does FDA consider the use of denatured alcohol to 

 be adding nicotine to the final cigarette? Is your suggestion that 

 manufacturers may be spiking their cigarettes based on the use of 

 denatured alcohol? 



