689 



Mr. James Johnston. Those which do not involve proprietary 

 product development 



Mr. Synar. Mr. Johnston, that is an unacceptable answer. Pro- 

 prietary information is available to Congress in confidential form. 

 That is not a legitimate excuse for not providing it to the sub- 

 committee. 



Mr. James Johnston. Congressman, may I finish my response? 



Mr. Synar. You may finish. 



Mr. James Johnston. Those documents which relate to specific 

 product development, it is my clear understanding that without 

 being very careful with those documents, we could then have the 

 Justice Department come after us for anti-competitive behavior. So 

 this requires specific documents. 



I have no problems with cooperating with this committee in any 

 way. 



Mr. Synar. Mr. Johnston, I take that as a yes that you will pro- 

 vide all the animal research and laboratory information that you 

 are presently 



Mr. James Johnston. We will provide any reasonable data. 



Mr. Synar. No. That's not what I'm suggesting, Mr. Johnston. 

 That's not up to your determination what is reasonable. I'm asking 

 you, will you and will every one of the gentlemen to your right pro- 

 vide all present and previously conducted animal research data to 

 this committee that has been done, and reports, notes, et cetera. 

 Mr. Johnston? 



Mr. James Johnston. I will repeat if . 



Mr. Synar. Yes or no, Mr. Johnston? 



Mr. James Johnston. If there is a possible violation of anti-com- 

 petitive law 



Mr. Synar. Mr. Johnston, let me give you the rules. Maybe you 

 don't understand 



Mr. James Johnston. I will not knowingly 



Mr. Synar. Mr. Johnston. 



Mr. James Johnston [continuing]. Violate the law. 



Mr. Synar. Mr. Johnston, you cannot withhold information from 

 the U.S. Congress. Now, we can either ask you to provide that in- 

 formation or we can use our subpoena power to do that. There is 

 no bar from that information on the basis that it is proprietary or 

 that there is pending litigation. 



We will have our lawyers explain to your lawyers, if that's nec- 

 essary and I don't think it is, that the providing of proprietary in- 

 formation does not constitute making that information public, 

 therefore violating any formulas or particular private information 

 that you have. 



Now, the question I ask you one more time and to each gentle- 

 men to your right. Will you provide us all the test reports and 

 notes from all animal laboratory testing that you are presently or 

 formerly been involved in? Yes or no? 



Mr. James Johnston. I will provide those documents which do 

 not threaten a Justice Department charge of anti-competitive be- 

 havior and I will require, Mr. Congressman, some kind of assur- 

 ance from the subcommittee stafi" that those proprietary, competi- 

 tive information be held in confidence. We've had some issues late- 



