25 



me quote from the opening paragraph of the summary of the Final 



Report on Project Hippo II: 



"The aim of the whole research "HIPPO" was to understand 

 some of the activities of nicotine - those activities that 

 could explain why cigarette smokers are so fond of their 

 habit. It was also our purpose to compare these effects 

 with those of the new drugs called "tranquilizers", which 

 might supersede tobacco habits in the near future." (Chart 

 21) 



The comparison of the drug-like effects of nicotine and 

 tranquilizers was not exactly a well-kept secret. Even in the 

 1940 's you could pick up a magazine and see an advertisement like 

 this. (Chart 22) What seems to be new about the Hippo study was 

 that it represented a serious commitment by a tobacco company to 

 a scientific examination of this pharmacologic property. 



Another report released with Hippo and conducted in the 



1960 's is called "The Fate of Nicotine in the Body."^' It 



reviews the state of knowledge about the distribution of nicotine 



in the body and presents the results of studies on nicotine 



metabolism in a group of smokers. The report states: 



"The numerous effects of nicotine in the body may, at first, 

 be conveniently measured by various physiological and 

 pharmacological experiments." (Chart 23) 



The studies involved the use of radio-labeled nicotine in 

 both humans and animals, which provided very sophisticated 

 knowledge of the absorption and distribution of nicotine in the 

 body. This included a knowledge of how much nicotine is present 

 in the blood of smokers; how this nicotine is distributed; how it 

 is excreted; and what variables affect the duration of a nicotine 

 blood level. 



It is clear that such research would be of interest to the 

 industry only if the industry were concerned with the 

 physiological and pharmacological effects of nicotine. 

 Certainly, this is not consistent with the industry's 

 representation that nicotine is of interest to it only because of 

 flavor and taste. 



Mr. Chairman, we believe that the studies released by Brown 

 & Williamson are relevant to the determination of whether 

 nicotine-containing cigarettes are drugs for purposes of the 



