21 



manufacture. One way is to interact with sugars in the tobacco. 



But it is the second way, the effect of ammonia and related 



compounds on the delivery of nicotine to the smoker, that is most 



striking. Let me quote from that handbook: 



"[The ammonia in the cigarette smoke] can liberate free 

 nicotine from the blend, which is associated with increases 

 in impact and 'satisfaction' reported by smokers." (Chart 

 16) 



The handbook goes on to describe ammonia as an "impact 



booster" : 



"Ammonia, when added to a tobacco blend, reacts with the 

 indigenous nicotine salts and liberates free nicotine. As a 

 result of such change, the ratio of extractable nicotine to 

 bound nicotine in the smoke may be altered in favor of 

 extractable nicotine. As we know, extractable nicotine 

 contributes to impact in cigarette smoke and this is how 

 ammonia can act as an impact booster." (Chart 17) 



This important role that ammonia plays in the liberation of 



free nicotine is also emphasized in other parts of the handbook. 



"This means that at the sane blend alkaloid content, a 

 cigarette incorporating [ammonia technology] will deliver 

 more flavor compounds, including nicotine into smoke than 

 one without it." (Chart 18) 



It is important to emphasize here that most of the nicotine 



in the average American cigarette is in the bound form. By that 



I mean it is not going to readily make its way to the smoker. 



Mr. Chairman, I am not going to go into the details of acid-base, 



and vapor-phase chemistry, or the bioavailability of nicotine in 



the protonated versus the unprotonated form. Suffice it to say 



that only a fraction of the nicotine in the tobacco gets inhaled 

 by the smoker. The handbook indicates that this ammonia 

 technology enables more nicotine to be delivered to the smoker 

 than if the ammonia technology is not employed. 



What are the ammonia compounds used in this technology? The 

 company handbook lists a number of different chemical compounds 

 that can act as "impact boosters." Ammonia compounds known to be 

 used include diammonium phosphate (DAP) , ammonium hydroxide, and 

 urea. In those countries, such as Germany, that do not allow 

 DAP, other proprietary formulations are used. 



To what are these compounds added? One of the most common 

 places the ammonia and ammonia-like compounds are applied is to 



