
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 24, 1994                   TAG: 9406290056
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                  LENGTH: Medium

TOBACCO MAKERS PROBED

The Justice Department is investigating whether tobacco companies lied to regulators and Congress about their cigarettes, Attorney General Janet Reno said Thursday. One tobacco executive suggested the real problem was a top regulator's ``personal or political agenda.''

Brown & Williamson Tobacco Chairman Thomas Sandefur accused the Food and Drug Administration of conduct ``that in effect set B&W up.'' He denied lying to Congress when he and six other tobacco chiefs said, under oath, that nicotine is not addictive and its levels are not manipulated in cigarettes.

``I certainly believe I am entitled to express that view even though it may differ from the opinion of others,'' he told the House Energy and Commerce health subcommittee.

Government allegations that companies use nicotine to hook smokers are false - the chemical is important only to a cigarette's taste, Sandefur said.

He then accused the FDA of trying to make it appear the company lied about developing new tobacco with double the usual nicotine.

FDA Commissioner David Kessler contended on Tuesday that B&W misled federal investigators probing its secret development of the Y-1 tobacco. Four FDA employees submitted affidavits saying they had handwritten notes of a May 3 meeting that showed company officials said, ``B&W has not gotten into the issue of growing tobacco for either higher or lower nicotine content.''

Sandefur said FDA never asked about Y-1 or any such tobacco, and B&W attorney Gordon Smith, who was at the May 3 meeting, agreed.

``It now appears, at least to me, that FDA had known about Y-1 early on with the intent of engaging in a course of conduct ... that in effect set B&W up,'' Sandefur testified. ``Dr. Kessler's exaggeration of the situation fits his personal or political agenda.''

B&W never hid Y-1 and it did not change the nicotine content of cigarettes that used some of the leaf last year, he added.

FDA stands by its testimony, said spokesman Jim O'Hara.

Sandefur's accusation came as Reno announced a civil, criminal and antitrust review of the tobacco industry by Justice Department attorneys.

The probe is not yet a formal investigation. ``We're looking at all the allegations, all the comments, all the information that we have received to determine what would be the appropriate action by the Justice Department in terms of a variety of issues,'' Reno said.

Rep. Martin Meehan, D-Mass., who requested the review, said mounting evidence indicates that tobacco companies lied about smoking hazards, addictiveness and manipulation of nicotine.

If FDA proves that companies manipulate nicotine to hook smokers, it can regulate the chemical as a drug, something companies are fighting.

In another tobacco attack Thursday, Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., proposed legislation to make cigarette companies liable for the estimated $19 billion that Medicare and Medicaid spend annually to treat smoking-related illnesses.

by CNB