REGULATION OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS 



THURSDAY, MAY 26, 1994 



House of Representatives, 

 Committee on Energy and Commerce, 

 Subcommittee on Health and the Environment, 



Washington, DC. 



The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:18 a.m., in room 

 2123, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Henry A. Waxman 

 (chairman) presiding. 



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

 order. 



Several weeks ago the subcommittee heard disturbing testi- 

 monies from the chief executive officers of the major U.S. tobacco 

 companies. Despite the overwhelming preponderance of scientific 

 knowledge, these executives denied that tobacco is a cause of 

 human disease or death. 



These views were not new. In fact, tobacco industry representa- 

 tives have systematically disputed major health findings on the 

 dangers of tobacco for more than 40 years. 

 y This morning we will hear from the chief executive officer of the 

 f tobacco industries' research organization, the Council for Tobacco 

 Research. 



The tobacco industry established the Council for Tobacco Re- 

 search, or CTR, in 1954, in response to emerging research reports 

 and public fears over the relationship between smoking and cancer. 



Originally known as the Tobacco Industry Research Council, the 

 Council changed its name to the Council for Tobacco Research in 

 1964, the year the Surgeon General, Luther Terry, declared smok- 

 ing a major cause of lung cancer. 



When it was established, the Council described itself as an agen- 

 cy for research into questions of tobacco use and health. Its re- 

 search decisions were to be guided by a distinguished Scientific Ad- 

 visory Board assuring its grantees complete scientific freedom. But 

 as we will learn this morning, secrecy replaced openness and public 

 relations replaced science. 



Today we will begin to peel the cloak of secrecy covering the 

 Council for Tobacco Research. The subcommittee is releasing a Ma- 

 jority staff report today that shows from the very beginning the 

 Council was a public relations ploy, a seemingly independent re- 

 search body whose real purpose was to promote the idea that smok- 

 ing is safe. 



As the documents reveal, the Council for Tobacco Research was 

 invented not by scientific researchers seeking answers to important 

 health questions, but by public relations experts seeking to calm 



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