REGULATION OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS 



THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 1994 



House of Representatives, 

 Committee on Energy and Commerce, 

 Subcommittee on Health and the Environment, 



Washington DC. 



The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m., room 2123 

 Raybum House Office Building, Hon. Henry A. Waxman (chair- 

 man) presiding. 



Mr. Waxman. The meeting of the subcommittee will come to 

 order. This hearing is a continuation of the subcommittee's over- 

 sight hearings on tobacco products. The witnesses this morning are 

 Dr. Victor DeNoble and Dr. Paul Mele. 



Dr. DeNoble worked in Philip Morris's behavioral pharmacology 

 laboratory from 1980 to 1984. During most of that time, he directed 

 animal research on nicotine and substances that might be sub- 

 stituted for nicotine. Dr. Mele worked with Dr. DeNoble in his lab- 

 oratory. 



On March 31, I released a study that Dr. DeNoble had coau- 

 thored with Dr. Mele and that demonstrated that nicotine has rein- 

 forcing properties, which the National Institute of Drug Abuse has 

 stated is a hallmark for addiction. The study was accepted for pub- 

 lication in 1983, and again in 1986, but each time, Philip Morris 

 directed Dr. DeNoble to withdraw it. As a consequence, it was 

 never published. 



Today, Dr. DeNoble and Dr. Mele are here to testify about these 

 incidents and others during their employment at Philip Morris. To 

 my knowledge, they are the first scientists to be released from their 

 confidentiality agreements by a tobacco company. 



On behalf of the subcommittee, I want to welcome Dr. DeNoble 

 and Dr. Mele, and to say that we are pleased that they are willing 

 to testify in the subcommittee's oversight hearings on tobacco prod- 

 ucts. But before calling on the two of you, I want to recognize mem- 

 bers for any opening statements they wish to make, and to recog- 

 nize Mr. Bliley first. 



Mr. Bliley. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Today we will hear in 

 greater detail about an issue that was raised at the subcommittee's 

 last two tobacco hearings, research on nicotine undertaken by 

 former Philip Morris research scientists in the early 1980's. 



And, as with the other tobacco-related issues that this sub- 

 committee has recently considered, this issue already has been 

 aired in the press. It is therefore critically important that, once 

 again, our deliberations attempt to separate fact from fiction, and 

 that we opt for good policy rather than good headlines. I hope that 



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