234 



Mr. Waxman. If you would just yield to me so I can ask one ques- 

 tion. 



Why is it only grown outside the United States to get this higher 

 nicotine tobacco leaf? 



Mr. Sande^UR. It's my understanding, Mr. Chairman, that the 

 industry made-up manufacturers, leaf dealers, seed dealers, have 

 an agreement with regard to the type grades that we can in fact 

 raise or the type of strains of tobacco that can be raised under the 

 allotment program here in the United States. And that range is, I 

 believe, between 2.5 percent up to 4 percent, something like that, 

 for flue-cured tobacco. 



That's my understanding and those percentages may be wrong, 

 but 



Mr. Waxman. What would be the reason for that agreement? 



Mr. Sandefur. They are trying to maintain the quality of the to- 

 bacco plant as I understand it. 



Mr. Bliley. If I might reclaim my time, it really doesn't make 

 a whole lot of difference what the quantity of nicotine in the to- 

 bacco grown is; it is what is delivered to the smoker, isn't it? 



Mr. Sandefur. That's what we've been saying all along, yes, sir. 

 We said on April 14, and I've testified today, it is not the amount 

 of nicotine in the leaf that's important, it's the amount of nicotine 

 that the cigarette delivers in smoke stream. That's what's impor- 

 tant because that's what the consumer gets. 



Mr. Bliley. Thank you very much. 



Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Waxman. Thank you. 



Mr. Sandefur, I'm going to pursue my second round of questions 

 with you and what I want to talk about is the topic of health ef- 

 fects of smoking. In particular, I want to discuss two other secret 

 projects Brown & Williamson: Project Truth and Project Janus. 



Let me begin with Project Truth which is summarized on chart 

 20. And staff will put that up. 



This Project Truth began in 1971. It was a campaign to convince 

 the public that smoking is not a health hazard. One of the docu- 

 ments from Project Truth that we have is entitled, "The Smoking/ 

 Health Controversy, A View From the Other Side," and it is a pres- 

 entation by Brown & Williamson to a local newspaper. Let me read 

 you some of the statements from this document. 



According to the document, "It is our opinion that the repeated 

 assertions without conclusive proof that cigarettes cause disease, 

 however well-intentioned, constitutes a disservice to the public." 

 Specifically, Brown & Williamson directly contested the relevance 

 of mouse skin painting studies according to your company. The tu- 

 mors produced on mice exposed to tobacco smoke are again, "artifi- 

 cially produced under laboratory conditions and as such have little 

 if any relation to cigarette smoke as it reaches the smoker." 



Now, that's so-called Project Truth. 



And then it's interesting to compare this Project Truth to some- 

 thing called Project Janus. It is very striking. The same time that 

 your company was telling the public in Project Truth that mouse 

 skin paintings are meaningless, your parent company, the British- 

 American Tobacco Company, was engaged in a decade-long series 



