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Congress: RJR held medical research
WASHINGTON (AP) - Lawyers for R.J.
j r Reynolds Tobacco Co. suppressed research
on the hazards of smoking - including the
discovery of how to remove dangerous car
i bon monoxide from cigarettes - and even
] ■ destroyed early evidence, according to docu
, l ments that Congress released Wednesday
% over the industry’s fierce objections.
The 150,000 pages, which tobacco com
! panies took all the way to the Supreme Court
to keep hidden, suggest that industry lawyers
controlled decades of tobacco research and
even attempted to sway the National Cancer
? Institute’s nicotine investigations.
Previously released documents showed
t that tobacco companies knew their products
- were dangerous wfell before the surgeon gen
eral's first warnings in the 1960s. But critics
say the new documents show for the first
time the extent to which lawyers fought
growing public suspicion by controlling
what research came to light.
“This massive fraud and conspiracy left
l an unprecedented toll of death and disease in
j America,” said Minnesota Attorney General
Hubert Humphrey III, whose anti-tobacco
\ lawsuit helped produce Wednesday’s release
: of papers.
Reynolds countered that the lawyers
were merely exploring every avenue to pro
tect their clients.
They “were doing what lawyers are sup
posed to do - preparing the company to
defend itself in litigation and regulatory
challenges,” RJR said in a statement. “Every
American citizen, whether an individual or a
corporation, is entitled to obtain such advice
on a privileged and confidential basis.”
Rep. Thomas Bliley, R-Va., put the
papers on the Internet two weeks after the
tobacco companies exhausted their last
appeal with the Supreme Court asserting the
papers were privileged attorney-client com
munications.
The documents promise to add fuel to a
Justice Department investigation of an
alleged tobacco industry conspiracy to mis
lead the government.
More importantly, they bring bad public
ity to the tobacco industry as it attempts to
kill tough legislation in Congress that would
severely restrict marketing and make it pay
hundreds of billions of dollars to fight teen
smoking.
Among Wednesday’s revelations:
■ “Destroyed reports and letters for legal
reasons,” reads a note handwritten by a top
RJR scientist. The company’s own attorneys,
doing a legal review in 1985, discovered the
decade-old note, which discussed early test
results of damage from Camel cigarette
chemicals.
■ Scientist John Reynolds found a way
to remove carbon dioxide, a key contributor
to heart disease, from cigarette smoke in the
1970s. Lawyers suppressed his discovery.
Publishing Reynolds’ work “would have
constituted an admission on the part of the
company that carbon monoxide was in
smoke,” said one lawyer, and Reynolds said
his bosses felt that the removal was too
expensive, the document says.
■ When RJR’s top scientist in the 1950s
attempted to isolate one of tobacco’s worst
carcinogens, then-President Edward Darr
responded: “Do we really need to be doing
that kind of work?”
■ Tobacco companies also attempted to
sway federal research. Philip Morris execu
tive Helmut Wakeham urged lobbying an
influential National Cancer Institute scien
tist in 1971, when a study “of considerable
concern to the tobacco industry” was fight
ing for funding.
“If we make a strong presentation, he
may downgrade the priority of this proposed
test,” Wakeham wrote. The work entailed
some of the first research on how the addic
tive chemical nicotine acts when inhaled.
■ Lawyers routinely edited scientific
reports “to eliminate unfortunate word
choices,” insisting that scientists who uncov
ered carcinogens always refer to them as
“alleged.”
■ As early as the 1950s, the “greatest
fear” of the company’s top lawyer “was that
u—--— j
This massive fraud and
conspiracy left an
unprecedented toll of
death and disease in
America.”
Hubert Humphrey IH
Minnesota attorney general
RJR would do something that would enable
the FDA” to regulate tobacco.
The Food and Drug Administration’s
1994 investigation into nicotine’s addictive
ness - and subsequent decision to regulate
the chemical as a drug - set off the latest ;
tobacco wars. FDA evidence that cigarette
makers manipulated nicotine levels helped
spur 40 states to sue the industry for repay
ment of smokers* medical bills.
The industry last summer attempted to
settle those lawsuits, offering to pay billions
of dollars and fight teen smoking in return
for strong legal protections. That truce fell
apart this month as Congress moved forward
with a much tougher bill.
■ UNL is recommended
to respond to sexual
harassment allegations and
to uphold federal statutes.
By Jessica Fargen
Assignment Reporter
Wednesday morning UNL students
woke up to two campus newspaper arti
cles about alleged unethical practices
; by two university departments.
On Wednesday night ASUN passed
two bills hoping the university would
take a closer look at the actions of its
faculty.
In its regular meeting Wednesday
ASUN recommended action in
response to allegations of sexual harass
ment of female professors in the politi
cal science department and unethical
treatment of American Indian remains
by the anthropology department
Two bills outlining courses of action
for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
were drafted and brought to emergency
status. Two hours later they passed.
Senate bill No. 2 encouraged UNL
to take appropriate action concerning
sexual harassment or racial complaints
filed against individuals or depart
ments.
Association of Students of the
University of Nebraska President Sara
Russell said ASUN would make infor
mation available explaining how to file
a complaint. The bill also said ASUN
would “promote the continued diversity
and sensitivity training.”
The bill was in response to a report
issued last week alleging that the politi
cal science department has allowed sex
ual harassment against women profes
sors to go on.
Parts of the report were printed in
the Daily Nebraskan Wednesday.
Most of the debate during the meet
ing focused on the wording of the bill,
not its intent
Some objected to the word “train
ing” because it could imply classes.
Several senators said it could mean
things such as attending cultural events.
Speaker of the Senate Matt Boyd
said awareness would be a better word
to use because the type of training is not
specified, making the bill sound like
political rhetoric.
“We have to show we can do it, not
just say we want to do it,” Boyd said
Senators also responded to allega
tions that UNEs anthropology depart
ment has been illegally housing
American Indian remains, including
several bones found in a drawer with
taco Bell wrappers.
If these allegations are true, UNL is
in violation of the Native American
Grave Protection Act of 1990, which
says all remains held by federally fund
ed institutions were supposed to be
returned to their tribes by 1995.
Senate bill No. 3 “demanded that
the University ofNebraska-Lincoln and
all of its departments uphold all
Nebraska and federal laws, in particular
those statues which address the use and
repatriation of Native American
remains.”
The bill, senators said, responded to
an article printed Wednesday in the
College of Journalisjm and Mass
Communications laboratory paper, The
Journalist
Regina Thunder Hawk, a senior
anthropology major from Rosebud,
S.D., said she believed die remains of at
least five American Indians have been
housed in Bessey Hall.
“We are horrified that this kind of
mistreatment could occur in the first
place,” she said. “How would you feel if
you found out your grandma’s bones
were sitting in a drawer?”
But Paul Schreier, engineering and
technology senator, said some of the
bills’ wording could be taken as
accusatory.
“When we say demand we are
implying (UNL has) not complied,”
Schreier said
The bill also recommends the
NAGRPA committee at UNL file a
report with the national committee,
which could lead to an investigation.
It also recommends that die depart
ment ensure research proposals are sen
sitive to the cultural and religious
beliefs of American Indians.
Thunder Hawk said she wants UNL
to talk not only with tribal councils but
grassroots Native Americans and learn
about their culture.
She said in her culture, “It is not OK
to play with die dead.”
ASUN also passed government bill
No. 5 encouraging the Affirmative
Action, and Diversity Office to have
continued conversations with students
about the racial climate at UNL and use
other suggestions made by the Office
for Civil Rights last week.
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‘ :^#^S!eDAjSNEBRASKAN •"V ■? %-■
Selection of 1960s stamps to start
WASHINGTON (AP) - Martin
Luther King Jr. and the Kennedy broth
ers, the twist and Woodstock, the Peace
Corps and the Vietnam War are among
subjects being proposed for stamps
commemorating die 1960s.
The Postal Service is inviting
Americans to vote during May on their
favorites, with 15 stamps to be issued as
a special commemorative set
Similar sets are being issued for
each decade in this century. Balloting
will be held later for stamps of the ’70s,
’80s and ’90s.
“The ’60s was a very pivotal time in
our nation’s history and played a signif
icant role in shaping die lives of many
Americans,” Postmaster General
Marvin Runyon said Wednesday.
In February voters selected stamps to
commemorate die 1950s, including such
topics as drivo-in movies, *1 fcdweLucy”
and Dr. Seuss’“TheCatinTTieHat”
The Postal Service has selected the
stamps representing the decades cover
ing the years 1900-1049 for the
Celebrate the Century program. < ;
The official 1960s ballot will be
available in May at allpost offices and at
the Celebrate the Century Web site:
http://stampvote.msn.com.
Ballots also will be available at
other locations, including Ford Motor
Co. dealerships, to encourage its cus
tomers to vote for the “Ford Mustang”
stamp. Motown Cafe restaurants will be
rallying votes for “The Motown Sound”
and die NewYork Yankees will also hold
a series of 1960s balloting days at
Yankee Stadrnm to bolster votes for the
subject, “Roger Maris Breaks Home
Run Record.”
The proposed topics are:
■People and events: Martin Luther
King Jr.fc “I Have a Dream” speech at
the Lincoln Memorial; die struggle for
civjttrights; the Peace Corps; the
Vietnam War; the political careers of
John and Robert Kennedy; Americans
take to the streets in demonstrations; the
Great Society and Medicare.
■ Arts and entertainment: The
Motown Sound; pop art; the movie
“Easy Rider”; “Star Trek” television
series; the Beatles; “Rowan and
Martin’s Laugh-In” television series;
the novel “Catch 22”; the Woodstock
weekend of mud and music.
■ Sports: Roger Maris breaks Babe
Ruth’s home run record; televised golf;
Super Bowl kicks off; Green Bay
Packers.
■ Science and technology: man
walks on moon; environmental aware
ness; television “live via satellite”; the
computer chip; lasers.
■ Lifestyle: everyone twist; Ford
Mustang; Barbie Doll; the peace sym
bol; shopping malls; die mod look.
