64 



Mr. Waxman. Thank you very much, Dr. Kessler. I have to tell 

 you that I thought your testimony was riveting and I want to com- 

 mend you on the investigation that you and the people at FDA 

 have conducted at least to this point. 



We have heard over the years and eveii very recently in this sub- 

 committee from the executives of the tobacco industry that they 

 don't think smoking cigarettes is addictive. Now, they certainly 

 know that nicotine is a property of cigarettes. You've said it in your 

 testimony. 



You want to lay to rest once and for all the industry's assertion 

 that nicotine is not addictive and you go on to say that the release 

 of company documents and testimony of company scientists has 

 opened a window on what some senior tobacco officials knew about 

 nicotine's physiological and addictive properties as long ago as 30 

 years. Is that correct? 



Mr. Kessler. That's a correct statement. 



Mr. Waxman. So, in other words, you are telling us that tobacco 

 company executives and those in the tobacco industry have known 

 for three decades that the nicotine in cigarettes is addictive and is 

 causing a pharmacological reaction in people which causes them to 

 smoke. 



Mr. Kessler. I was reading their words, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Waxman. What is it in the tobacco or the nicotine that keeps 

 people smoking. The executives told us it is not addictive and, in 

 fact, nicotine is solely a function of giving people a taste or a flavor 

 in the cigarettes themselves. 



In your investigation, is this the conclusion that you have 

 reached as well? 



Mr. Kessler. Mr. Chairman, when you smoke a cigarette, within 

 8 to 10 seconds, that nicotine travels through the lungs into the 

 blood stream and starts affecting the brain. It is that portion of the 

 brain and those chemicals that nicotine affects that result in this 

 nicotine psychoactive effect, and that psychoactive effect makes it 

 addictive. 



Mr. Waxman. If that nicotine were administered through an oral 

 dose, a pill, or a patch or an injection, would it be any different? 



Mr. Kessler. No form of nicotine delivery is as potent that I 

 know of as smoking. Inhalation results in very rapid transfer of 

 nicotine from the delivery agent to the brain. Eight, 10 seconds. 



Mr. Waxman. Now, you've indicated that when you first looked 

 at this issue of whether there can be a genetic manipulation of the 

 tobacco plant to increase its nicotine level, you were told that it 

 couldn't be done. 



Who told you that? 



Mr. Kessler. Let me turn the microphone to Ms. Witt who was 

 at one of our trips. 



Mr. Waxman. There is a microphone she could use right there. 

 Just push the button on the base forward. 



Ms. Witt. Mr. Chairman, we visited the Brown & Williamson fa- 

 cility on May 3 of this year. Several representatives from FDA vis- 

 ited Brown & Williamson and, at that time, company officials told 

 us first that it wasn't feasible to increase nicotine levels in tobacco 

 because of voluntary agreements that the industry had entered into 



