Daily Doc: Admissions of a PM Scientist
Title: FUTURE STRATEGIES FOR THE CHANGING CIGARETTE' NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SMOKING OR HEALTH
PM, Feb 23, 1982
Bates #: 1003171563/1567
Minnesota Trial Exhibit 10523
(Dr. Channing Robertson was questioned about this document on Feb. 3, 1998.)
January 29, 2001
This is a very powerful handwritten internal Philip Morris (PM) memorandum dated 1982 in which Jim Charles, Ph.D., a veteran scientist with PM's Research and Development department, frets about the landlside of public and private experts who are starting to link cigarettes with multiple organ cancers and other diseases. The memo has a "jig is up" tone, as Charles describes to his superior the warlike scenario they face, and makes it clear that there are a significant number of biologically active chemicals in cigarettes and smoke:
'This company is in trouble. The cigarette industry is in trouble....The anti-smoking forces are out to bury us... Their goal is to destroy the industry and any means to that end is justified (in their opinion)....Notice that while Charles at first says that the "scientific basis for the statements" about the effects of secondhand smoke on nonsmokers "is not sound," he admits at the same time that PM "knows very little about the biological activity of sidestream smoke."
...The Surgeon General's press conference was disturbing. For the first time associations between cancers other than the lung and cigarette smoking are being made in an emphatic manner. Associating cigarette smoking with 30% of all cancer deaths should make someone sit up and take notice...
....Let's face the facts:
1. Cigarette smoke is biologically active.
A. Nicotine is a potent pharmacological agent. Every toxicologist, physiologist, medical doctor and most chemists know that. It is not a secret.
B. Cigarette smoke condensate applied to the backs of mice causes tumors.
C. Hydrogen cyanide is a potent inhibitor of cytochrome oxidase - a crucial enzyme in the energy metabolism of all cells.
D. Oxides of nitrogen are important in nitrosamine formation. Nitrosamines as a class are potent carcinogens.
E. Tobacco-specific nonvolatile nitrosamines are present in significant amounts in cigarette smoke.
F. Acreolin is a potent eye irritant and is very toxic to cells. Acreolin is in cigarette smoke.
G. Polonium-210 is present in cigarette smoke.
H. We know very little about the biological activity of sidestream smoke.
I. We do not know enough about the biological activity of additives which have been in use for a number of years...."
These confessions were written in 1982 by a top Philip Morris scientist, and were sent to the head of PM's Science and Technology Department. Yet despite this important admission from one of its most dedicated and stalwart scientists, PM continued to advertise and market cigarettes as though they were safe...
CITATION
Title: FUTURE STRATEGIES FOR THE CHANGING CIGARETTE' NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SMOKING OR HEALTH
Type of Document: Handwritten memorandum
Author Charles, JL (Research and Development Department, Philip Morris)
Recipient: Osdene, TS (Director of Research at Philip Morris)
Date: 19820223
Site: Tobacco Documents Online (TDO) http://www.tobaccodocuments.org/
Page Count 5
Bates No. 1003171563/1567
URL: http://www.tobaccodocuments.org/view.cfm?CitID=992980&GetListArrayIdx=1&ShowImages=yes
Litigation Usage: Used as a trial exhibit in Florida, Missouri, Minnesota, and Texas -- a (this is a Minnesota selected document) Thanks To: Roswell Park Cancer Institute, to whose collection it belongs on TDO, and Bert Hirschhorn, for bringing it to my attention.
QUOTES
To: Dr. T.S. Osdene
From: J.L. Charles
Comments on "Future Strategies for the Changing Cigarette," National Conference on Smoking OR Health.
On February 22, 1982, (the day of the 1982 Surgeon General's press conference on Smoking and Health) you asked me to review the subject document and provide you with comments. The comments below are those of a concerned employee with a 20-year association with PM R& D, of which the past 10 years have been directly involved with smoking and health related research. I consider myself well trained in the biological and chemical sciences and qualified to make the following comments which should be take as constructive criticism with suggestions as to how to approach the solutions to some of the problems. You may shred this document, have it typed as is, incorporate the suggestions in a position paper for upper management or use the document in any way you see fit.
This company is in trouble. The cigarette industry is in trouble. If we are to survive as a viable commercial enterprise we must act now to develop responses to smoking and health allegations from both the private and the government sectors. The anti-smoking forces are out to bury us and the techniques used to attack us do not always invoke good science. Their goal is to destroy the industry and any means to that end is justified (in their opinion).
The Surgeon General's press conference was disturbing. For the first time associations between cancers other than the lung and cigarette smoking are being made in an emphatic manner. Associating cigarette smoking with 30% of all cancer deaths should make someone sit up and take notice. The issue of sidestream smoke and the potential influences on non-smokers was also addressed and even though the scientific basis for the statements were not sound nevertheless the damage in done. The really important fact is that in a period of decreased governmental involvement and an economic recession the pressure is not decreasing. The problem will not just go away...
The Future Strategies document is even more disturbing than the Surgeon General's comment. Terms such as standards setting, governmental or voluntary agency guidelines, qualitative analysis of tar, emphasis on brands with lower yields, disclosure of additives, regulation of future additives -- are worthy of concern. Again this reflects a continuing pressure on the industry and requires a strategic response.
Let's face the facts:
1. Cigarette smoke is biologically active.
A. Nicotine is a potent pharmacological agent. Every toxicologist, physiologist, medical doctor and most chemists know that. It is not a secret.
B. Cigarette smoke condensate applied to the backs of mice causes tumors.
C. Hydrogen cyanide is a potent inhibitor of cytochrome oxidase - a crucial enzyme in the energy metabolism of all cells.
D. Oxides of nitrogen are important in nitrosamine formation. Nitrosamines as a class are potent carcinogens.
E. Tobacco-specific nonvolatile nitrosamines are present in significant amounts in cigarette smoke.
F. Acreolin is a potent eye irritant and is very toxic to cells. Acreolin is in cigarette smoke.
G. Polonium-210 is present in cigarette smoke.
H. We know very little about the biological activity of sidestream smoke.
I. We do not know enough about the biological activity of additives which have been in use for a number of years....
(underlining appears in the original)
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