339 



hone in and see if there are things that need to be done to address 

 those questions and let's move on with the legislation instead of en- 

 gaging in an ongoing PR extravaganza. 



I thank the chairman. 



Mr. Waxman. The theme of this hearing is to get out the truth. 

 That is why this hearing is being held and why we have witnesses 

 before us to respond to questions that they have been unwilling to 

 respond to in any other place, whether it has been from members 

 of the press or from anyone else who is seeking to get that informa- 

 tion which I think the public ought to have. 



Mr. Wyden. 



Mr. Wyden. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 



First, let me say to the gentleman from North Carolina that we 

 are here for one reason, and that is to save lives and help improve 

 the health of the American people. The gentleman says that law- 

 yers on this committee are all getting together to make judgments. 

 What we are doing is following up on the recommendations of vir- 

 tually every objective medical group in our country. We are not 

 lawyers conducting medical inquiries. We are Members of Congress 

 elected by our constituents to work on health care issues, and it 

 seems to me when the Surgeon General, the American Medical As- 

 sociation and the World Health Association all say that we need 

 these measures to improve the public health, we have an obligation 

 as elected officials to follow up on what these health groups are 

 saying. 



Personally, I think it is high time that this committee inves- 

 tigates the pseudoscience that has been purveyed for years by the 

 Council on Tobacco Research. 



As we go to our witness, I would like to read what the Wall 

 Street Journal had to say on this matter. They said, and I quote: 

 "For almost 4 decades the Council for Tobacco Research in New 

 York City has been the hub of a massive effort to cast doubt on the 

 links between smoking and disease. Sponsored by U.S. tobacco 

 companies and long run behind the scenes by tobacco industry law- 

 yers, the ostensibly independent council has spent millions of dol- 

 lars advancing sympathetic science. At the same time it has some- 

 times disregarded or even cut off studies of its own that implicated 

 smoking as a health hazard." 



Then they quote an employee named Dorothea Cohen, who 

 worked there for 24 years saying and I quote: "When the Center 

 for Tobacco Researchers found out that cigarettes were bad and it 

 was better not to smoke, we didn't publicize that in press releases." 

 She goes on to say, "The Council for Tobacco Research is just a lob- 

 bying thing. We were lobbying for cigarettes." 



So I for one think it is high time we fmd out exactly what this 

 organization does. It seems to me when the Wall Street Journal — 

 not exactly an organ of antibusiness opinion — talks about the ac- 

 tivities of this organization in the fashion I have described, it is our 

 obligation as public officials to pursue it. 



I yield back my 



Mr. Waxman. Rather than yield back your time, would you yield 

 to me? 



Mr. Wyden. I would be happy to. 



