393 



knowledged that lawyers for the tobacco companies may have se- 

 lected the special projects for the tobacco companies. 



I want to indicate that in my view this paints a disturbing pic- 

 ture of public relations masquerading as science, and we will look 

 forward to further clarifications to hopefully disabuse us of some of 

 these facts. But I think the documents that we have already put 

 on the record establish much of that case and are really troubling 

 as to whether this is a scientific inquiry as it has been represented. 



I thank you very much 



Mr. Glenn. Mr. Waxman, may I ask a question? Are you im- 

 pugning my integrity? 



Mr. Waxman. Well, Dr. Glenn, you represent the Council of To- 

 bacco Relations. You don't know much about what went on before 

 you got there. We introduced documents that indicated the kinds 

 of things that were done by the Council. And it didn't just stop be- 

 fore you got there. In 1990 there was a letter to kids at school that 

 indicated — this was a statement that I will submit it to you as Ex- 

 hibit 15, if we can get that over to you. A letter written by RJR 

 Tobacco Company in 1990 to the principal of the Willow Ridge 

 School in Amherst, N.Y., and RJR is responding to the questions 

 of fifth graders about the health risks of smoking. 



I don't know if you are familiar with that letter. Are you? 



Mr. Glenn. No, sir. 



Mr. Waxman. OK. Well, I am going to read to you what they say. 

 I am quoting. "The tobacco industry is also concerned about the 

 charges being made that smoking is responsible for so many seri- 

 ous diseases. Long before the present criticism began, the tobacco 

 industry in a sincere attempt to determine what harmful effects, if 

 any, smoking might have on human health established the Council 

 for Tobacco Research. Over the years the tobacco industry has 

 given in excess of $162 million to independent research on the con- 

 troversies surrounding smoking. 



"Despite all of the research going on, the simple and unfortunate 

 fact is that scientists do not know the cause or causes of chronic 

 diseases reported to be associated with smoking. The answers to 

 these many unanswered controversies surrounding smoking we be- 

 lieve can only be determined through much more scientific re- 

 search." 



Now, this letter illustrates how the tobacco industry uses the 

 Council for public relations purposes to this day when fifth graders 

 ask about the risks of smoking, the existence for the Council for 

 Tobacco Research allows the tobacco companies to say, we don't 

 know and we are still trying to find out. 



I am not impugning your integrity, but I am telling you that 

 there is a tremendous gap between your insistence that CTR has 

 not focused on public relations and all of these documents we have 

 put on the record which indicate that the Council for Tobacco Re- 

 search has been used exactly for public relations and not fully for 

 scientific inquiries. 



