30 



Mr. Bliley. While you were working at Philip Morris, you also 

 did experiments to determine if stopping the use of acetaldehyde 

 and nicotine mixed together caused physiological withdrawal symp- 

 toms. Again, while you were employed at Philip Morris, did you not 

 tell your superiors that your experiments showed that stopping the 

 use for acetaldehyde and nicotine mixed together did not cause 

 physiological withdrawal? 



Mr. Mele. Yes, we did. 



Mr. Bliley. Am I correct that all of your experiments at Philip 

 Morris were with rats, and that none of your experiments involved 

 people? 



Mr. Mele. That is correct. 



Mr. Bliley. Doctor, 40 million Americans have quit smoking. 

 Isn't it true that while you were working at Philip Morris, you ad- 

 vised your superiors that the relative ease with which people can 

 stop smoking without formal treatment identifies smoking behavior 

 as fundamentally different from addictive behavior? 



Mr. Mele. It's not fundamentally different, but it clearly is dif- 

 ferent than if you are an alcohol, or if you are a heroin abuser, that 

 is correct. 



Mr. Bliley. Well, is that what you advised your superiors? 



Mr. Mele, Yes, that's true. 



Mr. Bliley. Am I correct that acetaldehyde is something that re- 

 sults naturally from burning tobacco? 



Mr. Mele. That is, yes, correct. 



Mr. Bliley. Nicotine, of course, is also a natural part of tobacco, 

 isn't it? 



Mr. Mele. Yes, it is. 



Mr. Bliley. Dr. DeNoble, I now want to ask you about your re- 

 search paper on rats' self-administration of nicotine that was sub- 

 mitted to Psychopharmacology and withdrawn. As I recall, the title 

 of that paper was, quote, "Nicotine as a Positive Reinforcer in Rats, 

 Effects of Infusion Dose and Fixed Ratio Size." 



According to both the abstract and the first page of your manu- 

 script your research found that "even determination of prolonged 

 access to nicotine, under which it functions as a positive reinforcer, 

 does not result in physiological dependence," unquote. Is that 

 right? 



Mr. DeNoble. That is a correct observation, yes. 



Mr. Bliley. The amount of nicotine injected directly into the 

 rats' veins, in this experiment, were much higher than the amount 

 of nicotine a smoker receives, isn't that true? 



Mr. DeNoble. The amount of nicotine injected at the 32 

 microgram dose is roughly the equivalent of one cigarette. But 

 what we did was we did a spread of ranges of doses, so we showed 

 a 32, 16, 8, and 4. Eight and four were not as reinforcing as 16. 

 So we did branch the range. So it is roughly the equivalent of a 

 single cigarette, or less, in a rat. I also might add, sir, that animals 

 have been shown to be either more sensitive to drugs, depending 

 upon the drug class. So it's very difficult to make a direct compari- 

 son to the human. 



Mr. Bliley. You reported, I believe, in this paper, as you told 

 your superiors all the time that you were employed at Philip Mor- 



