66 



Mr. Kessler. Andrew, do you have — ^there is a chart that com- 

 pares the flue-cured with Y-1. We were told by the industry in a 

 letter that we received, it wasn't from this company, but it was a 

 gen-'jral statement about industry practices, that flue-cured tobacco 

 natursdly contains about 2.5 to 3.5 percent nicotine. Patent claim 

 number 6 of the Brazilian patent states tobacco plant and they 

 were referring that patent for Y-1 in accordance with claim five 

 characterized by the fact that the nicotine content is approximately 

 6.2 percent. 



Mr. Waxman. So they are able to double the nicotine level in to- 

 bacco through this genetic alteration. 



Mr. Kessler. They were able to double it compared to flue-cured 

 tobacco, yes, which is what Y-1 is. 



Mr. Waxman. How did this transfer into the cigarettes being at 

 a higher nicotine level if it was in fact at a higher nicotine level? 



Mr. Kessler. What the company has told us, what their purpose 

 was to be able to lower tar and maintain nicotine. We are not here 

 stating that the issue is putting an enormous amount of nicotine 

 beyond traditional ranges, but what was important was to keep the 

 nicotine, I believe, in that traditional range and that traditional 

 range as we said is more than enough to be able to create and sus- 

 tain an addiction in my opinion. So what they wanted to do was 

 maintain the nicotine while lowering the tar. That was their intent 

 as they told us. 



Mr. Waxman. So the nicotine is not just simply a by-product of 

 whatever the tobacco might be. It is a carefully calculated level in 

 every cigarette that is sold in this country? 



Mr. Kessler. Mr. Chairman, the story of Y-1 is one example of 

 nicotine being, as you said, doubled compared to the standard flue- 

 cured variety. We have spent a lot of time looking at the Y-1 story. 

 The reason why the Y-1 story is important is not for the sake of 

 Y-1. The reason why the Y-1 story is important is it goes to the 

 heart of the assertion by some in the tobacco industry that they do 

 not control or manipulate nicotine. 



I don't know how you design a plant, you genetically alter a 

 plant, and spend a decade doing that and say you are not inter- 

 ested in controlling or manipulating nicotine. 



Mr. Waxman. Thank you very much. Dr. Kessler. 



Mr. Bliley. 



Mr. Bliley. Dr. Kessler, I listened to your discussion of the nico- 

 tine plant that Brown & Williamson apparently developed which 

 has a somewhat higher nicotine content and a somewhat lower tar 

 content. You appear to be suggesting that B&W did something to 

 the cigarette ana possibly detrimental to human health. 



Don't you know that the Federal Grovemment, through its Cancer 

 Institute proposed just such changes in tobacco? Specifically, I 

 wanted to ask you if you are aware that in 1980, Dr. G.B. Gorey, 

 the director of NCI's smoking and health program, proposed just 

 what you are now accusing B&W of doing surreptitiously. 



I would like to introduce for the record and read a quote from 

 Dr. Gk)rey's presentation. He stated that NCI, that is the Federal 

 Government, as late as 1980 was considering just that relationship 

 of nicotine to tar as follows: The end of this review, one cannot 

 avoid a special consideration for nicotine which, besides being a 



