But testifies more potent product wouldn't be sold
Jump to full article: Toronto (Ont) Star (ca), 2000-11-24
Author: Peter Small / STAFF REPORTER
Intro: Imperial Tobacco Canada has done research into ``elastic'' cigarettes that deliver a relatively high tar and nicotine hit when puffed harder, but it would never try to sell them, a top company official says.
``It was to find out what consumers are looking for in their product,'' Donald Brown, chairman and former chief executive of Imperial Tobacco Canada, said yesterday.
Brown was testifying in a North York court at the first case ever brought to trial against a tobacco company in Ontario . .
Yesterday, Stewart Massey, Imperial's director of scientific affairs, testified that the research on cigarette ``elasticity'' was conducted only in 1993 on foreign products and hasn't been looked at since.
Brown testified that Imperial Tobacco Canada is developing a safer cigarette. . .
Under cross-examination by Battaglia's lawyer, Doug Lennox, Brown said Imperial Tobacco saw no need to change the health warnings on its packages to inform consumers that some ``mild or light'' cigarettes could deliver a much higher tar and nicotine dose, depending on how they were smoked.
``Our research showed that smokers were well aware'' of the issue, Brown said.
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