Reports that Matter

United States v. Philip Morris USA Inc.: Amended Final Opinion

OBJECTIVE

Section 80 of 129

OBJECTIVE

Previous test chamber experiments had shown that NNK concentration in SS increased after smoking and reached a maximum concentration about four hours after smoking. The objective of project TASSO is to investigate the mechanism of NNK formation, to determine the reason for the increase of NNK concentration in SS with time and to attempt to suppress NNK formation by cigarette filler or paper modifications.

2028638794-8803 at 8794 (US 37424); 2024770266-0267 (US 37155).

  1. Researchers wrote in the "Project TASSO" Intermediate Report dated November 24, 1986, that: "Commercial cigarettes present a wide range of NNK formation in aging SS. . . . Because these compounds [TSNAs] could pose a health risk, reducing their levels in cigarette smoke is therefore a primary goal." 2026209210-9269 at 9212-9213 (US 89557).

  2. In the 1980s, Philip Morris also carried out a study, code-named "Project POLDI," to determine the levels of toxic compounds in sidestream smoke. A 1985 interim report on Project POLDI recorded that the levels of NNK "rose sharply" in the secondhand smoke until four hours after smoking; the levels of other TSNAs rose as well. 2028639730-9731 (US 37427).

  3. Philip Morris studied the concentrations of numerous compounds in ETS at its Neuchatel facility. A report, titled "Quantitative Evaluation of Cigarette Sidestream Smoke Components Under Controlled Experimental Conditions," summarized the measurements of known harmful components as a function of time and number of cigarettes smoked. Researchers generated sidestream smoke in ambient air, then measured nicotine, carbon monoxide, ammonia, cyanide, and nitrogen oxides over time in an experimental chamber. 2029269056-9126 (US 20432).

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  1. BATCo also conducted internal research on the adverse health effects of ETS. The summary/minutes of the 1982 BAT Group Research Conference in Montebello, Canada recorded the following with respect to ETS:

(a) We must get hard data both to help counter anti-smoking attacks, and to support the design of future products . . . . (b) We should keep within BAT: I) animal results on sidestream activity ii) thoughts on the biological activity of sidestream iii) research findings on the consumer annoyance aspects of environmental smoke -- since these have potential commercial value.

100448162-8184 at 8170 (US 34661).

  1. Similarly, B&W recognized the scientific evidence demonstrating that passive smoking is harmful to nonsmokers. In a November 16, 1982 memorandum from B&W in-house counsel Bob Sachs to company scientists and lawyers, Sachs questioned the role of the Tobacco Institute in affecting the "public smoking" issue given "the overwhelming weight of scientific literature pointing toward [the] toxicity" of tobacco smoke. 680546750-6752 (US 21001).

  2. R.J. Reynolds also conducted internal research which suggested that ETS is harmful. In 1988, Reynolds partially funded a comprehensive assessment of the health risks of passive smoking. The assessment, conducted by a working group led by Professor Walter Spitzer at the

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University of Toronto, was published in 1990 in Clinical and Investigative Medicine under the title "Links Between Passive Smoking and Disease: A Best-Evidence Synthesis." 515251440-1465 (US 92103).

  1. The 1990 Spitzer study funded by Reynolds concluded that "[t]he weight of the evidence is compatible with a positive association between residential exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (primarily from spousal smoking) and the risk of lung cancer." The study also found links between passive smoking and respiratory illness and reduced lung function in both adults and children, as well as childhood hospitalization and asthma in children. 515251440-1465 at 1441 (US 92103).

  2. Reynolds in-house counsel Mary Ward recognized the impact of the Canadian study even before it was published. Ward wrote to fellow counsel in a memorandum dated March 15, 1989, that "this document can be very damaging when we are confronted with it in a legislative or litigation context." She also recommended that Reynolds not fund the publication of the final study. 515541733-1736 at 1733, 1736 (US 51950).

  3. On July 6, 1994, the Majority Staff of the Health and Environment Subcommittee of the Committee on Energy and Commerce in the United States House of Representatives sent members of Defendants' CIAR Science Advisory Board (SAB) a survey on the health effects of passive smoking. Six of the seven SAB members who responded agreed that ETS "presents a serious and substantial public health threat to children" and five of the seven members agreed that ETS is "a human lung carcinogen." 2044436543-6544 (US 21991).

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