ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 10, 1996 TAG: 9604100086
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND, VA.
SOURCE: Associated Press
The former fiancee of a Philip Morris USA executive has turned over boxes of documents to lawyers suing seven of the nation's largest tobacco companies over nicotine levels in cigarettes.
In a 63-page sworn statement, Hatsy Heep also alleges that Ronald A. Tamol, the company's director of research and brands development until 1993, admitted in their private conversations what the companies have long denied publicly - that nicotine is highly addictive, that the companies try to keep nicotine levels high to sustain addiction and maintain sales.
Heep told ABC News that Tamol stored more than 70 boxes of documents at her house. When she and Tamol broke up a few weeks ago, she said, he removed most of the documents.
Heep turned over the remaining eight boxes to the lawyers handling a massive federal class-action lawsuit brought against the tobacco companies.
Among the documents she turned over, according to reports broadcast Tuesday night by both NBC Nightly News and ABC's World News Tonight, was a 1965 handwritten memo stating the need to ``determine the minimum nicotine drop to keep normal smokers hooked.'' It was stamped ``R.A. Tamol.''
Reached Tuesday afternoon, Tamol, 62, said that he was ``astounded'' at Heep's allegations. ``Everything she's saying can and will be refuted.''
Tamol said that he had never told her that nicotine was addictive, nor does he believe that. He also did not tell her, he said, that Philip Morris manipulated nicotine levels in its cigarettes to keep smokers addicted.
Philip Morris denounced the reports as being the result of a ``bizarre stunt'' pulled by the lawyers pursuing the class action.
Requests to see the documents have been denied, the company said in a statement issued by its New York headquarters.
``As a result, we cannot ... even verify whether the documents are authentic,'' the statement said.
Meanwhile, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported in today's editions that FBI agents visited four Richmond area homes Monday night to ask questions and look for documents as part of a federal probe into conduct by tobacco executives.
Agents visited the homes of Tamol, his son, Heep and Thomas I. Osdene, a retired research director for Philip Morris, the newspaper said.
Osdene said he was served with a subpoena seeking documents.
``It was very broad,'' he said, declining to discuss the subpoena in detail. He said he was given 10 days to comply.
Plaintiff lawyers who have examined the eight boxes of materials left at Heep's house said they are hoping that the documents will bolster their contention that Philip Morris was aware of nicotine's addictive nature.
``These are handwritten notes, original and unadulterated notes'' of a company researcher, as well as internal Philip Morris memoranda, said Russ Herman, a plaintiff attorney.
LENGTH: Medium: 58 linesby CNB