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Statement of Charles O. Whitley 



on behalf of 



The Tobacco Institute 



before the 



Subcommittee on Health and the Environment 

 House Energy and Commerce Committee 



March 25, 1994 



Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the Subcommittee, we appreciate 

 this opportunity to address issues raised by FDA Commissioner David Kessler in his 

 February 25, 1994, letter to the Coalition on Smoking OR Health, and by Rep. Synar's 

 bill, H.R. 2147, the "Fairness in Tobacco and Nicotine Regulation Act of 1993." I am 

 accompanied by Dr. Alexander W. Spears III, Vice Chairman and Chief Operating 

 Officer of the Lorillard Tobacco Company, Sherwin Gardner, Deputy Commissioner 

 of FDA from 1970 to 1979, and Dr. Steven M. Raffle, a practicing psychiatrist with 

 extensive experience in addiction treatment. 



Dr. Spears, speaking on behalf of Lorillard, will describe the cigarette 

 manufacturing process and, in particular, the use of reconstituted tobacco, tobacco 

 extracts and denatured alcohol. Mr. Gardner will address the inappropriateness of 

 regulating tobacco products under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, while 

 Dr. Raffle will address the inappropriateness of viewing smoking as an "addiction" and 

 equating cigarettes with hard drugs. I wish to submit for the record statements 

 provided by five of the six leading U.S. cigarette manufacturers -- Dr. Spears will speak 

 for the sixth - concerning the nicotine in their cigarettes. 



