721 

 Mr. James Johnston. Mr. Suber- 



Mr. Waxman. Dr. Spears indicated in his statement — his article, 

 rather, that I released yesterday, that through a blending process, 

 the nicotine levels can be changed. You've indicated that you agree 

 with that. 



Mr. James Johnston. I know of no such article. 



Mr. Waxman. Let's start again. You know Mr. Suber, don't you? 



Mr. James Johnston. I do, indeed. 



Mr. Waxman. Yesterday, there was a discussion of an article is- 

 sued by Dr. Spears. You have not been made aware of that article. 



Mr. James Johnston. You said Dr. Suber's article. 



Mr. Waxman. Dr. Spears. 



Mr. James Johnston. I said there is no such 



Mr. Waxman. You're aware that Dr. Spears wrote an article in 

 1981. 



Mr. James Johnston. Now that we have the correct person, yes, 

 Mr. Chairman, I am aware of that. 



Mr. Waxman. Now, he indicated that through a blending process 

 of tobaccos, the nicotine concentrations or levels can be changed 

 and often are separately adjusted from the tar levels. Do you do 

 that? 



Mr. James Johnston. Repeat the question. 



Mr. Spears. That statement is not found in my article that you 

 can separately adjust tar and nicotine. 



Mr. Waxman. Let me read to you your article. "Based on these 

 trends, one would conclude that the lowest tar segment is com- 

 posed of cigarettes utilizing a tobacco blend which is significantly 

 higher in nicotine. Although one cannot conclude that this has been 

 achieved solely by the selection of tobacco, it does indicate a trend 

 toward the use of tobacco with higher nicotine levels." That's page 

 22. 



Mr. Spears. Yes, sir. But you said that this indicates you could 

 separate tar from nicotine. 



Mr. Waxman. That you can adjust separately the tar and nico- 

 tine. 



Mr. Spears. It does not indicate that. 



Mr. Waxman. We're talking about the lowest tar cigarettes. 



Mr. Spears. I understand. 



Mr. Waxman. Does your article say or not say that those can also 

 be the highest nicotine concentrations? 



Mr. Spears. In concentration in the tobacco, but not in the nico- 

 tine yield of the cigarette smoke. 



Mr. Waxman. And the 



Mr. Spears. Let's not confuse it any further, if I may. 



Mr. Waxman. When you say the nicotine content in the smoke 

 is separate from the cigarette, that seems to me a very strange no- 

 tion. 



Mr. Spears. I'm tr5dng. 



Mr. Waxman. If you're going by the FTC 



Mr. Spears. Let me explain it to you. 



Mr. Waxman. No. I'm going to get into that whole question, but 

 I want to do it in an orderly way. We're going to get to that. Let 

 me just say that's a very strange notion and we're going to examine 

 that more carefully. 



