Tobacco companies aimed to keep smokers hooked, court told
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《英国医生杂志》
Cigarette makers boosted nicotine levels and added ammonia to their product to make sure smokers became addicted, a former chief of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr David Kessler, testified in the District Court of Washington, DC, last Thursday.
Dr Kessler was the first witness in the federal government's $280bn (￡155bn; 230bn) civil racketeering case against various tobacco companies. He described the industry's efforts to make cigarettes more effective as nicotine delivery devices, efforts that came to light in the FDA's 1994-5 investigation into whether cigarettes should be regulated as drugs.
According to Dr Kessler's written testimony, cigarette makers also added ammonia to their product to increase the amount of free nicotine and to add to its "kick." He also claims that they genetically engineered a high yield tobacco plant that was grown in Brazil and illegally shipped to the United States and that they consciously sought a "youth market" for cigarettes. Meanwhile the industry has "vociferously" denied that it manipulates levels of nicotine in its products and sought to hide its own research into nicotine and addiction, Dr Kessler said.
Dr Kessler is the first of nearly 200 witnesses for the prosecution. The Justice Department, which made its opening statement on Tuesday, will argue that the big tobacco companies have spent billions of dollars to mislead the public about the risks to health and addictiveness of cigarettes, a "massive 50 year scheme to defraud the public."
To win its case, brought under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, the government must show that the tobacco industry is likely to operate fraudulently in future ( BMJ 2004;329: 701, 25 September).
Attorneys for the cigarette makers argued in opening statements that although company executives made mistakes and showed poor judgment in the past, there was never a conspiracy to lie to the public.
And now, the defence claims, the industry is completely candid about the health risks of cigarettes. "We're in the business of selling a dangerous product," Ted Morris, attorney for Philip Morris. "Each of the defendants say to the American public in a clear and unambiguous manner that smoking is dangerous."
Under the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement, Philip Morris and five other major cigarette makers signed on to reimburse $246bn to US states for treating smoking related illness and undergo a number of reforms. Defence attorneys in this case will argue that the agreement led to a fundamental change in the way their clients do business.
In his cross examination on Thursday of Dr Kessler, David Bernick, attorney for Brown and Williamson, sought to paint him as a publicity hound with a "personal agenda" to regulate the tobacco industry and argued that his client's development of the "Y-1" high nicotine tobacco plant was part of an effort to make a safer cigarette.
The Altria Group (the parent company of Philip Morris), Lorillard Tobacco, Liggett Group, R J Reynolds, and British American Tobacco are also named in the government's case, along with two industry trade groups.(Anne Harding)
Dr Kessler was the first witness in the federal government's $280bn (￡155bn; 230bn) civil racketeering case against various tobacco companies. He described the industry's efforts to make cigarettes more effective as nicotine delivery devices, efforts that came to light in the FDA's 1994-5 investigation into whether cigarettes should be regulated as drugs.
According to Dr Kessler's written testimony, cigarette makers also added ammonia to their product to increase the amount of free nicotine and to add to its "kick." He also claims that they genetically engineered a high yield tobacco plant that was grown in Brazil and illegally shipped to the United States and that they consciously sought a "youth market" for cigarettes. Meanwhile the industry has "vociferously" denied that it manipulates levels of nicotine in its products and sought to hide its own research into nicotine and addiction, Dr Kessler said.
Dr Kessler is the first of nearly 200 witnesses for the prosecution. The Justice Department, which made its opening statement on Tuesday, will argue that the big tobacco companies have spent billions of dollars to mislead the public about the risks to health and addictiveness of cigarettes, a "massive 50 year scheme to defraud the public."
To win its case, brought under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, the government must show that the tobacco industry is likely to operate fraudulently in future ( BMJ 2004;329: 701, 25 September).
Attorneys for the cigarette makers argued in opening statements that although company executives made mistakes and showed poor judgment in the past, there was never a conspiracy to lie to the public.
And now, the defence claims, the industry is completely candid about the health risks of cigarettes. "We're in the business of selling a dangerous product," Ted Morris, attorney for Philip Morris. "Each of the defendants say to the American public in a clear and unambiguous manner that smoking is dangerous."
Under the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement, Philip Morris and five other major cigarette makers signed on to reimburse $246bn to US states for treating smoking related illness and undergo a number of reforms. Defence attorneys in this case will argue that the agreement led to a fundamental change in the way their clients do business.
In his cross examination on Thursday of Dr Kessler, David Bernick, attorney for Brown and Williamson, sought to paint him as a publicity hound with a "personal agenda" to regulate the tobacco industry and argued that his client's development of the "Y-1" high nicotine tobacco plant was part of an effort to make a safer cigarette.
The Altria Group (the parent company of Philip Morris), Lorillard Tobacco, Liggett Group, R J Reynolds, and British American Tobacco are also named in the government's case, along with two industry trade groups.(Anne Harding)