752 



I think that's an example of how we need to be sensible about 

 dealing with this. 



I had one other question for Dr. Spears and I wanted to clarify, 

 if I might, because I'm not sure your response to the chairman's 

 questions came across all that clearly. 



Yesterday, you were accused publicly of making misrepresenta- 

 tions to this subcommittee the last time you appeared. Specifically, 

 this charge arose from a 1981 article that you authored that told 

 how the level of nicotine in a tobacco product can be changed by 

 blending different types of tobacco which have differing nicotine 

 contents. 



This discussion from your article was presented as conclusive 

 proof that cigarette manufacturers manipulate nicotine in ciga- 

 rettes and you should stand accused of hiding this supposed "se- 

 cret" fact. 



Dr. Spears, if you would turn to your written statement from 

 March 25, if you have it, and read the last sentence on the first 

 page. If you don't have that, I 



Mr. Spears. I'm sorry. I do not have it. 



Mr. McMillan. I would be glad to read that, and I quote, "The 

 level of nicotine in the tobacco of our products is solely determined 

 by the tobacco that we buy and blending of the different tobaccos 

 during manufacturing. The tar and nicotine yields of our products 

 are determined by a combination of the tobacco blends and the con- 

 struction of the cigarette; that is, length, circumference, filter, tip 

 ventilation, tobacco density, et cetera. The Federal Trade Commis- 

 sion has reported the results of tar and nicotine analysis by brand 

 for years." 



I will finish in just a minute, Mr. Chairman, if I may. Dr. 

 Spears, in fact, you told the committee on March 25 what you said 

 in your article, didn't you? 



Mr. Spears. Yes, I did. 



Mr, McMillan. They were consistent. 



Mr. Spears. They were consistent. 



Mr. McMillan. I think that it's very clear, then, that some of 

 the allegations that have been made with respect to your testi- 

 mony, which, at that time, was perfectly clear, have been distorted 

 and I simply wanted to interject that again to give you an oppor- 

 tunity to set the record straight on that point. 



Mr. Spears. Thank you. I'd like to say something further on the 

 concentration of nicotine in tobacco since that was one of the mis- 

 interpretations and statements made. I think Mr. Waxman still — 

 he is not a believer that there's no correlation between the con- 

 centration in tobacco and the FTC nicotine jdeld. 



I'd like to read from this paper that I was handed from the New 

 England Journal of Medicine by Neal Benowitz, the first paragraph 

 under results. [See p. 724.] "Cigarette tobacco contained an average 

 of 1.57 percent of nicotine. Neither the concentration of nicotine in 

 the tobacco nor the total amount of nicotine in the cigarette cor- 

 related positively with the Federal Trade Commission machine de- 

 livery estimate. 



"In fact, among the cigarette brands sampled, there was a signifi- 

 cant inverse correlation between nicotine concentrations in tobacco 

 and the nicotine delivered," which says, again, if a higher con- 



