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Mr. James Johnston. We design our products and we control for 

 tar, as we are required to do. 



Mr. Waxman. Last night, one of your officials, Mr. Suber, ap- 

 peared on CNN. Mr. Suber was asked whether your company ma- 

 nipulates the level of nicotine, and this is what he said. "In order 

 to deliver to the consumer a product that he wants, a consistent 

 level of nicotine, we have to blend the tobacco's accordingly. So we 

 do control it." 



Mr. Johnston, do you agree with Mr. Suber? He says that in 

 order to deliver the consumer a consistent level of nicotine, which 

 is what the consumers want, you do control nicotine levels. What 

 is your answer? Do you agree or not? 



Mr. James Johnston. As I said both in the written statement 

 and in my oral statement 



Mr. Waxman. No. I want to know whether you are disagreeing 

 or agreeing with Mr. Suber's statement as I just read it to you. 



Mr. James Johnston. I'm telling you what I agree with. 



Mr. Waxman. No. I want a yes or no. Do you agree or do you 

 disagree? 



Mr. James Johnston. Please restate the question. 



Mr. Waxman. I'm sorry. WTiat did you answer? 



Mr. James Johnston. Please restate the question. 



Mr. Waxman. Do you agree or disagree with Mr. Suber's state- 

 ment that I quoted for you from his interview on CNN, where he 

 said "In order to deliver to the consumer a product that he wants, 

 a consistent level of nicotine, we have to blend the tobaccos accord- 

 ingly. So we do control it." 



Mr. James Johnston. I disagree with that wording of the state- 

 ment, yes. 



Mr. Waxman. You disagree with him. 



Mr. James Johnston. Yes. 



Mr. Waxman. I'd like to ask the other members of the panel. 

 Well, staff is raising a good point. Mr. Suber works for you, doesn't 

 he? 



Mr. James Johnston. Yes, he does. 



Mr. Waxman. And he was representing your company on tele- 

 vision last night as a spokesman. 



Mr. James Johnston. Yes, sir, he was. 



Mr. Waxman. How could he make a statement with which you 

 disagree on such a fundamental point? 



Mr. James Johnston. It's not a fundamental point. It's a choice 

 of how he phrased it. What I've tried to communicate, Mr. Chair- 

 man, is what we do design and manufacture our cigarettes for is 

 to tar specifications. As I said in my statement, we monitor and 

 measure both tar and nicotine and they come right in line, and we 

 are required 



Mr. Wax\lan. Well, Mr. Suber says that the smoker wants a con- 

 sistent level of nicotine. Nicotine, not tar. You can't assure a con- 

 sistent level of nicotine without controlling the level of nicotine, can 

 you? 



Mr. James Johnston. That's what I disagree with, Mr. Chair- 

 man. Our smokers want a consistent product. They want the Win- 

 ston that they smoke today to be like the Winston they smoke to- 

 morrow, like the Winston they smoke in California or the Winston 



