16 



The holder of the Brazilian Y-1 patent was Brown & 

 Williamson Tobacco Corporation, maker of such cigarettes as Kool, 

 Viceroy, Richland, Barclay, and Raleigh. 



Let me tell you why this discovery interested us. Industry 

 representatives have repeatedly stated for the public record that 

 they do not manipulate nicotine levels in cigarettes. The plant 

 described in this patent represents a dramatic attempt to 

 manipulate nicotine. 



Moreover, when we asked company officials whether plants 

 were bred specifically for higher nicotine content, we were told 

 that this was not feasible. We were told that tobacco growers 

 and cigarette manufacturers have an agreement that the nicotine 

 level of new varieties of tobacco grown in the United states can 

 vary only slightly from the levels of standard varieties. Under 

 this agreement, a new high-nicotine tobacco plant that varied 

 more than slightly from the standard variety could not be 

 commercially grown by farmers in the United States. 



Nevertheless, we learned that interest in developing a high- 

 nicotine tobacco plant dates back to at least the mid-1970 's. In 

 1977, Dr. James F. Chaplin, then of both the USDA and North 

 Carolina State University, stated: 



"manufacturers have means of reducing tars but most of 

 the methods reduce nicotine and other constituents at 

 the same time. Therefore it may be desirable to 

 develop levels constant or to develop lines higher in 

 nicotine so that when the tar and nicotine are reduced 

 there will still be enough nicotine left to satisfy the 

 smoker." (Chart 5) 



In fact. Dr. Chaplin had been working on genetically 

 breeding tobacco plants with varying nicotine levels. In a 1977 

 paper, Dr. Chaplin indicated that tobacco could be bred to 

 increase nicotine levels, specifically by cross breeding 

 commercial varieties of tobacco with Nicotiana rustica. N. 

 rustica is a wild variety, very high in nicotine, but not used 

 commercially in cigarettes because it is considered too harsh. 



Dr. Chaplin has told us that his specially bred plants were 

 not commercially viable because they did not grow well and 

 literally did not stand up in the field. Furthermore, he was 



