The Cigarette Papers

by Stanton A. Glantz (Editor), John Slade (Editor), Lisa A. Bero (Editor), Peter Hanauer (Editor), Deborah E. Barnes (Editor)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520213722
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	05/12/1998
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	560
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.30(d)

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

Editorial Reviews

Two recent releases chronicle the history of the current political status of the controversial tobacco industry from different vantage points. Kluger's (The Paper, LJ 10/15/87) Ashes to Ashes is riveting and highly readable despite its length. From the Native American usage of tobacco through the lawsuits of the 1990s, Kluger follows the industry's agricultural and labor practices, technical advances, and marketing campaigns; he also considers research on tobacco's deleterious health effects and the tobacco control movement. Significant personalities and events such as the invention of the cigarette-rolling machine are featured. An extensive bibliography is provided, and a lengthy list of the Phillip Morris executives (and ex-executives!) are interviewed. Suitable for readers of high school age on up, this book belongs in every library. Much more scholarly, The Cigarette Papers focuses more on one companyBrown & Williamsonand one issuehealth effects. In 1994, Glantz received an anonymous package containing thousands of pages of internal documents from Brown & Williamson. The author's analysis of these indicate that, public statements to the contrary, the company did indeed know about the health and safety effects of their products and actively sought to suppress the information. The documents, made available by the University of California via the Internet (http://www.library.ucsf.edu/tobacco), are quoted extensively. Also included is a statement by Brown & Williamson in response to the 1995 publication of some of these data in the Journal of the American Medical Association. This work is extemely thorough and at times makes for tedious reading. Recommended for academic and large public libraries.Eris Weaver, Marin Inst. for the Prevention of Alcohol & Other Drug Problems, Rohnert, Cal.

Library Journal

Examines 30 years' worth of secret internal tobacco industry documents from one tobacco company, plus other material subpoenaed by Congress, quoting extensively from the documents and adding background and context to demonstrate that the industry has known for decades that smoking is addictive and causes disease and death. Discusses agricultural chemicals and additives, legal concerns facing the industry, and the nonsmokers' rights movement. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

An eye-opening exposé of the workings of the tobacco industry, based on the leaked internal documents of a leading cigarette company.

The setup is that of a thriller: In the spring of 1994 an express-mail box filled with 4,000 pages of tobacco-company documents turns up on the doorstep of longtime industry critic Glantz (Medicine/Univ. of California, San Francisco); the return address read "Mr. Butts," the name of the fast-talking cigarette from Doonesbury. Glantz assembles a team of medical doctors and policy analysts to comb through the papers, which he lodges in the special collections division of the university library so that Brown & Williamson, the tobacco company in question, cannot block public access to them. The documents are astonishing, describing research projects with codenames like ARIEL (which sought ways to boost the nicotine kick of a cigarette), giving a behind-the-scenes look at the company's maneuverings around various lawsuits and congressional inquiries, and showing beyond any doubt that B&W, at least, was well aware of the cancerous effects of smoking decades ago, although it continues to maintain that "causation has not been proved" and that nicotine is not addictive. (Smokers may also be interested to know of B&W's experiments with various additives, including benzo(a)pyrene, cocoa, and deer tongue, a plant substance known to cause liver damage in test animals.) The editors' commentary helps make sense of the often arcane papers, which are couched in the language of law, chemistry, and medicine; even with their help, however, this makes for tough slogging.

"Stall any disclosure by industry as long as possible," one B&W memo urges. Difficult as it is to work one's way through this book, the labor yields disclosures of the sort that doubtless makes for an industry insider's worst nightmare—revelations that will add new fuel to the widening debate about smoking.

Kirkus Reviews