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GUS - Jeffrey Wigand: "A Safer Cigarette" (pt.1) 

Dr. Jeffrey S. Wigand (b. December 17, 1942) hired onto Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation on January 1, 1989, as Vice President of Research and Development. Having spent 17 years of his life employed in the health care field, it is extremely odd that this doctor would associate his occupation with that of a habit known to affect the single most preventable cause of death in the United States. In the infamous 60 Minutes interview with Mike Wallace dated February 4, 1996, Wigand, by no means perfect, admits to having been attracted to B&W's lucrative annual salary ($300,000), along with benefits that would greatly assist his eldest daughter, then suffering from acute asthma.

A secondary reason for Wigand's hiring was an alleged mutual interest on the part of both parties to develop a "safe cigarette:"

Wigand: They were looking to reduce the hazards within cigarettes, reduce the carcinogenic components or the list of the carcinogens that were within the tobacco products.

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