841 



l7 Tobacco Company 



JAMES W JOHNSTON 



Chairman and 



Chief Executive Officer 



WmstonSalem, N.C. 27102 

 May 3, 1994 919-741-7925 



The Honorable Henry Waxman 

 U. S. House of Representatives 

 Committee on Energy and Commerce 

 Subcommittee on Health and the Environment 

 2415 Rayburn House Office Building 

 Washington, DC 20515 



Dear Mr. Chairman: 



I attach for the record of your Subcomminee's hearing ofThursday, April 14, 1994, the following 

 information: 



1. Three charts referred to by Representative Thomas Bliley and by me at pages 78 through 81 



of the transcript of the Subcommittee's proceedings. The first is entitled " 1954-1986 Sales- 

 Weighted Average 'Tar' and Nicotine Yields" which Representative Bliley pointed out was 

 taken from the 1989 Surgeon General's Report. The second entitled "Sales-Weighted 

 Nicotine and 'Tar' Levels in Smoke As % of 1982 Levels" was referred to by Representative 

 Bliley as taken from Dr. Kessler's testimony before your Subcommittee on March 25, 1994. 

 The third, entitled "Sales-Weighted Average 'Tar' and Nicotine As % of 1982 Levels" is the 

 chan referred to by me as reflecting calculations by R. J. Reynolds of the approximately 500 

 brand styles during the period 1982 through 1993. 



Of the three charts, only Dr. Kessler's indicates an increase in nicotine levels over the past 

 ten years. We have contaaed the FDA and have offered to provide to them our data and 

 calculations and have offered to meet and confer with them to resolve inconsistencies. To 

 date, the FDA has not accepted our offer. 



I ask that these three charts be inserted into the official record of this Subcommittee's 

 proceedings at the point they were referred to during the course of testimony. 



While we do not question that Dr. Kessler relied on data supplied by the Federal Trade 

 Commission in preparing his chart, his chart apparently does not reflect the correct average 

 sales-weighted "tar" and nicotine yields. This would explain the discrepancy between Dr. 

 Kessler's chan and the chart that appears in the Surgeon General's 1989 report, as well as the 

 chart that we prepared for the April 14 hearing. Both the Surgeon General's chart and our 



"We work for smokers. " 



