Foreword 
the reason many of them changed in the first place — to lower their health 
risk. 
The U.S. Congress also voiced its concern in 1978 when it enacted the 
Health Services and Centers Act. Section 403 of that legislation directed the 
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to conduct a "study 
or studies of (1) the relative health risks associated with smoking cigarettes 
of varying levels of tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide; and (2) the health 
risks associated with smoking cigarettes containing any substances commonly 
added to commercially manufactured cigarettes." The Secretary of the 
Department of Health and Human Services addressed this issue as part of 
the 1981 Surgeon General's report. The Health Consequences of Smoking: The 
Changing Cigarette. The overall conclusion of that report was clear: "There 
is no safe cigarette and no safe level of consumption." Although the report 
did note that smoking cigarettes with lower yields of tar and nicotine 
reduces the risk of lung cancer to some extent, the benefits are minimal 
in comparison with giving up cigarettes entirely. Evidence relating to heart 
disease, other cancers, or chronic obstructive lung disease was not sufficient 
to permit conclusions to be drawn. As to the accuracy of the FTC test 
method, the report stated: "The 'tar' and nicotine yields obtained by present 
testing methods do not correspond to the dosages that the individual smokers 
receive: In some cases they may seriously underestimate these dosages." 
Growing numbers of questions were raised about the accuracy of the 
FTC test protocol to measure tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide levels 
from low-yield cigarettes — questions raised not just by the public health 
community but also within the tobacco industry. Competitors complained 
to FTC that Brown and Williamson's (B&W) Barclay brand cigarette did not 
test accurately with the FTC test method. They argued that the brand was 
designed with unique air ventilation channels that caused it to test low on 
the FTC method. The ventilation channels, which remained open when 
Barclays were smoked on the FTC machine, were rendered inoperable 
when a human being smoked the cigarettes. In April 1983 FTC announced 
that its testing method understated values for constituents in Barclay 
cigarettes, and as a result, until new testing methods were developed, FTC 
would no longer report an official rating for Barclay cigarettes. Later, FTC 
took similar steps with respect to other B&W cigarette varieties that used 
a filter design similar to Barclay's. 
Eventually FTC closed its cigarette testing laboratory, in part because of 
insufficient expertise within the agency to carry out an increasingly complex 
and costly testing program. Since 1987, constituent levels for domestic 
cigarette brands have been determined for the manufacturers by the Tobacco 
Institute Testing Laboratory with oversight by FTC. The Tobacco Institute 
serves as a trade organization as well as the information and lobbying arm 
of the tobacco industry. 
In June 1994 the Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Health and 
the Environment wrote the Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), 
asking him to convene a meeting of experts to ". . . review and make 
V 
