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Mr. Gardner. Paid by Philip Morris USA. 



Mr. Waxman. Mr. Wyden. 



Mr. Wyden. Dr. Spears, let me tell you that the central concern 

 I have is that it seems to me that the industry is constantly saying 

 that concerns like we are expressing today are kind of trivial and 

 no big deal, and then goes to such extraordinary lengths to try to 

 keep secret what is in tobacco. 



I have here — under the confidentiality laws, I am not allowed to 

 go into detail — I have a letter here from the Centers for Disease 

 Control. And what this letter says is that 13 of the ingredients that 

 are known to be added to tobacco in the manufacture of cigarettes 

 cannot be used in food under the Food and Drug Administration 

 statute. 



My question to you is, again in the name of openness and in the 

 name of disclosure, can you tell us from your knowledge what 

 items are included in tobacco products now that cannot be used in 

 food in our country? 



Mr. Spears. I am familiar with the list that you are talking 

 about 



Mr. Wyden. You are familiar. 



Mr. Spears [continuing]. But I am under a confidentiality agree- 

 ment, as well, and I cannot discuss the items on the list. 



However, let me say that from m.y perspective, this list has been 

 available to scientists within HHS who are willing to sign a con- 

 fidentiality agreement for review for a 10-year period or a 9-year 

 period. To my knowledge, until this date, there have not been any 

 questions raised about individual items that are part of that list. 



My only knowledge is that — and I think this has been said al- 

 ready — that Secretary Sullivan in 1990 said to the Congress that 

 that list of ingredients was not a priority for his organization. 



Mr. Wyden. Well, we know for a fact, because we have worked 

 on trying to obtain this list, that essentially nobody has looked. 

 Frankly, I think that is one of the most powerful indictments of the 

 way government has regulated tobacco is that here we have a 1984 

 law so that at least public health officials could know what dan- 

 gerous ingredients were in tobacco and virtually nobody looked. 



I gather that you know the answer to my question. You know 

 what is not allowed in food, and yet turns up in tobacco. 



I am just curious, do you feel any obligation to the customers 

 that buy your products to give them that kind of information? I 

 think Oregonians would like to know that. My constituents would 

 like to know if something isn't allowed in food that is in your ciga- 

 rettes. I am curious whether you think there is any obligation to 

 consumers in my State and elsewhere to tell them that? 



Mr. Spears. I think you are making the implication that there 

 is something significantly wrong with something on a list that is 

 not approved for food 



Mr. Wyden. I just said, why don't you tell them? Let them 

 choose it. Why don't you give them the truth? 



Mr. Spears. As far as I am concerned, you have scientists who 

 have access to the information in government who can look at this 

 list and make any determination they wish. They can talk to the 

 industry about it. They can talk about the individual companies 

 about it, the scientists in those companies. 



