24 



"It is clear that consumers are less tolerant of 

 decreases than they are of increases in nicotine 

 delivery. By the time nicotine level falls to 

 approximately 0.35mg, 50% of consumers will be saying 

 that the level of impact is so low they would reject 

 the product. To reach the equivalent stage of 50% of 

 consumers rejecting the product as having too high an 

 impact level, a nicotine level of approximately 5 . Omg 

 would be required. Again, it is important to note that 

 there is a clear upper as well as lower rejection limit 

 for nicotine in smoke." 



It is thus clear that at least one major cigarette 



manufacturer is aware of the need to target nicotine delivery to 



levels necessary to satisfy smokers. In fact, as one tobacco 



flavor specialist has written, one of the most important goals of 



cigarette design is to "ensure high satisfaction from an adequate 



level of nicotine per puff," and that even cigarettes with 



reduced levels of nicotine and tar must have this property.^' 



Physiologic and pharmacologic effects of nicotine 



Publicly available information, including recently released 



documents, reveals much about the industry's knowledge of the 



drug-like effects of nicotine. 



I will begin by describing several studies commissioned by 



the tobacco industry. As I go through them Mr. Chairman and 



members of the Subcommittee, ask yourselves: Are these the kinds 



of studies that would be conducted by an industry interested only 



in the flavor or taste of nicotine? 



On May 16, 1994, Brown & Williamson made available 

 previously unreleased results of research that had been conducted 

 more than thirty years ago. A review of this research, known as 

 the Project Hippo studies, documents that the industry was 

 interested in the physiologic and pharmacologic effects of 

 nicotine as early as 1961. 



The first report, known as Project Hippo I, contained an 

 extensive discussion of the effects of nicotine in the body. 

 This included, for example, the effects of nicotine on the 

 central nervous system. 



Project Hippo II is an interesting study of what was, in the 

 early 1960 's, the newly evolving field of tranquilizers. Let 



