334 



CHART 1 

 THE NEW YORK TIMES, SATURDAY. MAY 7. 1994 



Tobacco Company Was Silent on Hazards 



By PHILIP J. HILTS 



WASHINGTON, May « - Inter- 

 nal documenis from a ir.tjor lobac- 

 co company show (hat executives 

 struggled with whether to disclose 

 i« the Surgeon General what they 

 knew in 1963 about the haiards Of 

 cigarettes, at a time when the Sur- 

 geon General was preparing a re- 

 port saying for (he ftni time that 

 cigarettes are a major health haz- 

 ard. 



The executives of the. company, 

 the Brown & Williamson Totiacca 

 Corporation, chose to remain si- 

 lent, to keep their research results 

 secret, to stop work on a safer 

 cigarette and to pursue a legal and 

 public relations strategy of admit- 

 ting nothing. 



In more than lOO docuiiiencs, t«- 

 ters and cables from the IBM's and 

 I970's thai provide a rare look at 

 the Internal discussions among to- 

 bacco executives, the officials 

 spoke of the hazards of cigarette* 

 and suted plainly to one another 

 that nicotine is addictive 



In one document, the company's 

 geoeraJ counsel said Brawn & WU* 

 llemsoA's research had found chat 

 cigarettes caused or predisposed 

 people CO lung cancer, contributed 

 to heart disease and might cause 

 emphysema. The statements con- 

 tradict the tobacco Industry's con- 

 tention over the last three decades 

 that it has mm been proved Uiai 

 cigareues are hamtful or that nico- 

 tine IS addicuve. 



The question ot addiction has 

 taken on ImportMicc In recent 

 months after (he Food and Drug 



Administration said for the first 

 lime that It would consider regulat- 

 ing cigarettes. To establish control 

 over cigarettes, the F.D.A. said, It 

 must show that nicotine Is addic- 

 tive and that tobacco companies 

 Intentionally exercise control over 

 the amount of nicotine in cigarettes 

 to maintain smokers' addiction. 



Officials of Brown & WiUtamson, 

 which makes Kool, Vk:eroy and 

 other braixjs. refused to comment 

 on the documents but sent a letter 

 to TTie New York Times today sug- 

 gesting that the documents had 

 been "stolen by a former employee 

 of a law firm doing work for Brown 

 fc Williamson." The company said 

 the documents should not bt dis- 

 closed because some of them may 

 be subject lo attorney-client privi- 

 lege and may be covered by an 

 tnjuncuon forbidding their release. 

 Tbe injunction was Issued by Judge 

 Thomas B. Wine of Jefferson Cir- 

 cuit Court in Louisville. Ky. 



Judge Wine is presiding over a case 

 in which Brown L Williamson is suing 

 a man named Merrell Williams, who 

 they say stole documenis from the 

 company. 



A lawyer for The New York Times 

 Company, Adam Lipuk, said be did 

 no: believe thai the injunction applied 

 to ihe newspaper. "Under the Su- 

 preme Coun's decisions, injunctions 

 may be directed only to specific par- 

 lies to a lawsuit," he said- "injunc- 

 tions directed to the whole worW are 

 ineffective." 



. Some documents were obtamed by 

 Tl>e Times from a Government offi- 

 ctaJ wlKi was dlstumed about the tes- 

 timony in the House last month by the 

 top executives of it;* seven biggest 

 American tobacco comparues, in 

 which they said Uiiti nicotine was not 



addictive. The official said that the 

 documents were also given to Repre- 

 sentative Ron WyjJen, Democrat of 

 .Oregon, a smoking opponent who has 

 lieen working on investigations of to-y 

 -bacco companies m recem weeks/ 

 Mr. Wyden said that he had found the 

 documents to be "very dtsuirbingr 

 and that he had turned over the docii^ 

 ments to Representative Henry A. 

 Wazman. cbalrman of the House En- 

 er^ and Commerce Sutx:ominiitee 

 on Health and the EnviroamenL 

 Mr. Waxman's subcommittee has 

 h'ekl several hearings on the tobacco 

 industry, including the one at which 

 the top executives ustifled. Mr. Wy- 

 den asked each of the executives 

 Whether in his opinion nicotine was 

 -addictive, and each answered no. 



Thomas E. Sandefur Jr., the chair- 

 man and chief executive of Brown L 

 Williamson, said In his testimony, "I 

 Jbelieve nicotine is not addictive." In 

 response to a request for any re- 

 search Che company has on nicotine 

 .and addiction, he said he would turn 

 over documents, but added, "We do 

 i>ot have any animal research." 



