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University of California Press

About the Book

Around-the-clock tobacco talks, multibillion-dollar lawsuits against the major cigarette companies, and legislative wrangling over how much to tax a pack of cigarettes—these are some of the most recent episodes in the war against the tobacco companies. The Cigarette Papers shows what started it all: revelations that tobacco companies had long known the grave dangers of smoking, and did nothing about it.

In May 1994 a box containing 4,000 pages of internal tobacco industry documents arrived at the office of Professor Stanton Glantz at the University of California, San Francisco. The anonymous source of these "cigarette papers" was identified only as "Mr. Butts." These documents provide a shocking inside account of the activities of one tobacco company, Brown & Williamson, over more than thirty years. Quoting extensively from the documents themselves and analyzing what they reveal, The Cigarette Papers shows what the tobacco companies have known and galvanizes us to take action.

About the Author

Stanton A. Glantz, Ph.D., Lisa A. Bero, Ph.D., Peter Hanauer, LL.B., and Deborah E. Barnes, B.A., are affiliated with the Institute for Health Policy Studies, the Department of Medicine, and the Division of Clinical Pharmacy at the University of California, San Francisco. John Slade, M.D., is with the Department of Medicine at St. Peter's Medical Center and the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Foreword by C. Everett Koop
Preface

I. Looking through a Keyhole at the
Tobacco Industry
Introduction
B&W's and BAT's Corporate Structure
History of the B&W Documents
Limitations of the Evidence
Conclusion
References

2. Smoking and Disease: The Tobacco Industry's
Earliest Responses
Introduction
Filter Cigarettes and the "Tar Derby"
Early Advertising Claims
B&W's Internal Research Program
The Council for Tobacco Research
Industry Reaction to the 1964 Surgeon
General's Report
Reactions by BAT and B&W
Conclusion
References

3· Addiction and Cigarettes as
Nicotine Delivery Devices
Introduction
Southampton Research Conference, 1962
Battelle's Nicotine Research Program
BAT's Internal Research on Nicotine
Views of Nicotine in 1984
The Search for Nicotine Analogues
The Industry's Public Statements on Nicotine
Conclusion
References

4· The Search for a "Safe" Cigarette
Introduction
"ZEPHYR" and Its Causes, 1957
Southampton Research Conference, I962
Industry-Wide Research in the UK, 1965
Report on Southampton Research, 1967
Montreal Research Conference, I967
Hilton Head Research Conference, I968
Kronberg Research Conference, 1969
Biological Testing Committee Discussions, 1970
Health versus Public Relations, I970-1982
BAT's Research Projects, 196os-198os
US "Smoking and Health" Projects
Tobacco Substitutes
Abandoning the Search
Conclusion
References

5· Public Relations in the "Safe" Cigarette Era
Introduction
Getting Out the "Facts"
Selling Doubt
Resisting Government Regulation: Advertising
Campaigns
Keeping Track of Science and Scientists
Conclusion
References

6. Agricultural Chemicals and Cigarette Additives
Introduction
Agricultural Chemicals
Additives
Disclosure of Additives
Conclusion
References

7· Legal Concerns Facing the Industry
Introduction
Protecting Documents from Discovery and
Admission as Evidence
Specific Strategies to Avoid Discovery
Rising Fear of Government Regulation
Products Liability Concerns
B&W Participation in BAT Research
Antitrust Concerns
Conclusion
References

8. Lawyer Management of Scientific Research
Introduction
Projects Run by Lawyers: An Overview
CTR Special Projects
Law Firm Accounts
University Special Projects
Involvement of Lawyers in Research Design
Smokeless Tobacco Council
The Kentucky Tobacco and Health
Research Institute
Use of Research from Special Projects
Conclusion
References

9· Stonewalling: Politics and Public Relations
Introduction
Influence of Attorneys over Public Relations
Swaying Public Opinion
Advertising
Using Modern Marketing Techniques
to Sell Cigarettes
Conclusion
References

10. Environmental Tobacco Smoke and the
Nonsmokers' Rights Movement
Introduction
Early Recognition of the Passive Smoking Issue
Research and Product Development Response
to the ETS Issue
Public Attacks and Private Acceptance
of ETS Research
State and Local Efforts to Regulate Public
Smoking
Conclusion
References
Contents

II. Where Do We Go from Here?
References
Statements by Brown and Williamson
List of Available Documents
About the Authors
Document Index
Name Index
Subject Index