400 



3. Eight years later, in February of 1972, Tobacco Institute President Horace Komegay, 

 appearing before the Consumer Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee 

 stated: 



Let me state at the outset that the cigarette industry is as vitally concerned 

 or more so than any other group in determining whether cigarette smoking 

 causes human disease, whether there is some ingredient as found in 

 cigarette smoke that can be shown to be responsible and if so what it is. 



That is why the entire tobacco industry— growers, warehousemen, and 

 manufacturers—since 1954 has committed a total of $40 million for 

 smoking and health research through grants to independent scientists and 

 institutions. That is why the tobacco industry is spending more money in 

 this special field of research than any other single source, Government or 

 private. Despite this effort, the answers to critical questions about smoking 

 and health are still unknown. 



Let me first briefly review the conduct of the cigarette industry in relation 

 to this continuing and unresolved controversy. Its conduct has been both 

 responsive and responsible to an extent unparalleled in American industry. 



4. At the same hearing, Robert C. Hochett, Ph.D., acting Scientific Director for the 

 Council for Tobacco Research stated: 



In 1965 and 1969 I described in considerable detail the nature, 

 organization and modus operandi of the Council, and these descriptions 

 were included in the records. My oral statement of 1965 was supplemented 

 by a complete background document outlining the Council's history, 

 organization, scientific program and publications. This also appears in the 

 record and need not be repeated here. 



My thesis in these previous presentations was that neither tobacco and 

 health research in general, nor that of the Council has established that 

 tobacco use or cigarette smoking in particular is a "major health hazard." 

 My point is that it has not been shown whether, how, to what extent or in 

 whom cigarette smoking can contribute to the etiology (causation) of any 

 disease that is presently a major cause of illness or early decease. I do not 

 find any convincing evidence that either tar or nicotine or any other agent 

 in cigarette smoke has been "incriminated" in relation to any human 

 disease. Consequently, there is not scientific basis on which to establish 

 "maximum acceptable levels of tar, nicotine or other incriminated agents" 

 as proposed in S.1455. 



5. On February 15, 1978 Horace Komegay, President of the Tobacco Institute, appeared 

 before the Subcommittee on Health and the Environment and stated: 



Generally, the industry funds scientific research on smoking and health 

 through the Council for Tobacco Research. That organization, or rather its 

 predecessor, was formed in 1954, and its sole purpose is to support 

 independent scientific research. They have what they call a Scientific 

 Advisory Board, composed of well known and qualified people from all over 

 the country, which determines the scientific merits of the grant 

 applications. (Emphasis added.) 



