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

DATE: FRIDAY, June 9, 1995                   TAG: 9506140027
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Medium

PERJURY INQUIRY SOUGHT IN PHILIP MORRIS STUDY

Two congressmen contended Thursday that reports Philip Morris spent 15 years studying nicotine's effects give the government the final evidence it needs to regulate tobacco as a drug and to investigate the cigarette giant for perjury.

Philip Morris painstakingly uncovered the drug-like effects of nicotine on smokers' brains and went on to test different levels in cigarettes to find the amount most pleasing to smokers, The New York Times reported Thursday.

The Food and Drug Administration is investigating whether nicotine should be regulated as a drug. Key to its decision is whether cigarette companies design their products to addict smokers, chiefly by manipulating nicotine levels.

The FDA declined comment on the 2,000 pages of Philip Morris research documents. But Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., demanded that Philip Morris turn the documents over to the FDA immediately.

``They would appear to have an obvious and perhaps decisive impact on'' the FDA's probe, wrote Waxman, who last year launched a massive congressional probe into the tobacco industry. ``They also appear to conflict fundamentally with the sworn testimony Philip Morris provided'' to Congress in April 1994.

Philip Morris Chairman William Campbell and six other tobacco chiefs told Congress under oath that cigarette smoking is not addictive, his company's research had never established it was addictive, and Philip Morris doesn't change nicotine levels in its products.

The research documents directly contradict that, said Rep. Martin Meehan, D-Mass., who asked the Justice Department to investigate immediately whether Campbell committed perjury and whether the industry committed fraud.

``The American people ... clearly have been the victims of decades of duplicity by Philip Morris USA and its cohorts in the tobacco industry,'' Meehan wrote.

Philip Morris spokesman Victor Han didn't return calls seeking comment.

Tobacco experts have long known that Philip Morris, the world's largest tobacco company, and its competitors performed decades of research on nicotine.

In fact, a 1973 Philip Morris memo said its research concluded, ``Without nicotine ... there would be no smoking.'' Probes last year found Philip Morris documents showing the company had proved nicotine was addictive five years before the government did.

by CNB