180 



of the FTC and we use the FTC methodology for measuring the de- 

 liveries on our cigarettes. And by law, if we misled the American 

 public with regard to the delivery, my company would be in for 

 major fines. So we take very seriously the testing and measure- 

 ment of tar and nicotine in the products that we produce and make 

 dam sure that each and every cigarette delivers that level. 



Mr. Bliley. We had testimony Tuesday about the use of ammo- 

 nia in cigarettes; the charge was made that it is used to enhance 

 the nicotine in the product. I understand that it is used as a flavor 

 enhancer and it is also used to make the shreds of tobacco adhere 

 to one another. 



Does Brown & Williamson use ammonia in its cigarettes? 



Mr. Sandefur. Yes, sir, we do. 



Mr. Bliley. And for what purpose. 



Mr. Sandefur. For the benefit of taste, to improve the taste 

 characteristics of our cigarettes. 



Congressman Bliley, back in 1984 or 1985, when I became re- 

 sponsible for our domestic business, I asked our research people, 

 our R&D people, research and development people as well as our 

 scientists — you might say they are in most cases one and the 

 same — to reverse engineer for my company the Marlboro product. 



Marlboro is a very, very fine cigarette. It has very fine taste 

 characteristics and I wanted to find out how they were doing that 

 because it was important if I was going to compete to improve the 

 quality of my products. They did that, and our scientists came to 

 me and said, we think we've found one of the cigarettes and it was 

 the use of ammonia in the sheet, reconstituted sheet. And over 

 time, we developed a way of doing that and in fact we use that in 

 our cigarettes today to improve the smoking quality and the taste 

 of our products. 



I don't want you to think there is something wrong with ammo- 

 nia. There is not. You know my wife said the other night to me, 

 I guess when she read the papers about nicotine and about ammo- 

 nia said, oh my goodness, you are putting ammonia in your ciga- 

 rettes. I said, yeah, we do that as an ingredient in our processing 

 and I said, but if you eat — and she likes to eat Brie cheese — I said, 

 if you eat Brie cheese, you are getting ammonia, too. So I don't 

 want anybody to think that there is some problem in using ammo- 

 nia. It's not. 



Mr. Bliley. I thank you, Mr. Sandefur. 



Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Waxman. Thank you, Mr. Bliley. 



Mr. Synar. 



Mr. Synar. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Sandefur, is it true that you agreed to a 2-day visit by the 

 Food and Drug Administration officials at Brown & Williamson for 

 May 3? 



Mr. Sandefur. I'm sorry, Congressman, I didn't hear your ques- 

 tion. 



Mr. Synar. Is it true that you agreed to a 2-day visit by the FDA 

 officials at Brown & Williamson starting on May 3? 



Mr. Sandefur. I'm aware that we agreed to a visit. I don't know 

 the length of time we agreed to, no, sir. 



