ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, May 7, 1996 TAG: 9605070110
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
THE WHISTLE-BLOWER told attorneys in Mississippi's lawsuit against the cigarette industry that he meant to discuss manipulating ammonia in tobacco, not nicotine, in his FDA testimony.
A former Philip Morris employee who told the government the cigarette maker reprocessed tobacco whenever it didn't contain enough nicotine has retracted the charges under oath, the company's attorneys said Monday.
Jerome Rivers' initial allegations in March supported the Food and Drug Administration's contention that cigarette makers manipulate nicotine to hook smokers. The FDA found Rivers' affidavit serious enough to halt, temporarily, the writing of new federal regulations for tobacco until Philip Morris could answer the charges.
But Philip Morris on Monday claimed it had won the latest round when Rivers told attorneys in Mississippi's lawsuit against the cigarette industry that he meant to discuss ammonia in tobacco, not nicotine, in his FDA testimony.
``I think it's fair to say he basically retracted his charges,'' Philip Morris attorney Peter Grossi said.
Rivers, a retired shift manager, did not return a phone call to his Petersburg, Va., home for comment.
Mississippi attorneys denied that Rivers had retracted his statement and instead suggested he was confused by Philip Morris' technical questioning. Rivers asked to review additional documents before deciding whether to amend his FDA affidavit.
``I don't think Jerome did anything other than tell the truth,'' Mississippi Attorney General Michael Moore said.
Rivers also testified that ammonia was used in cigarettes to help smokers absorb nicotine, which Moore said he considers a more serious charge than testing nicotine itself.
``What Jerome was able to confirm for us is Philip Morris is using ammonia to free-base nicotine almost the way a cocaine dealer uses chemicals in baking powder to free-base cocaine, to make crack,'' he said.
Still, Philip Morris' Grossi wrote the FDA demanding the agency turn over - within 24 hours - its investigators' notes from their discussions with Rivers.
``These documents will presumably show either that Mr. Rivers consistently made false statements to the FDA ... or that the FDA investigators knew, or should have known, from their meetings with Mr. Rivers that those statements were false.''
Grossi said Philip Morris had no plans to sue Rivers, who was testifying under oath when giving both accounts. ``I am not accusing him of perjury. Perjury is a knowingly false statement,'' said the Philip Morris attorney.
But he would not say if Philip Morris planned legal action against the FDA.
FDA spokesman Jim O'Hara said the agency considered the investigators' notes private.
In another part of the 500-page deposition, Rivers testified that Philip Morris made employees in a now-closed plant wear special full-body suits, telling workers that ``nicotine is toxic.''
The plant was to manufacture the nicotine-free cigarette Next, which failed in consumer testing. But Rivers testified that the nicotine taken out of tobacco leaves for Next was then added to tobacco stems - and those ``tobacco-enriched stems'' were sent to other plants, presumably to be added to other cigarettes.
In the original FDA affidavit in March, Rivers had said Philip Morris tested processed tobacco hourly for alkaloids, which he called industry code for nicotine. If the alkaloids didn't meet preset standards, the tobacco was processed again, sometimes with higher-nicotine tobacco strains mixed in to boost the levels, he told the FDA.
But during Rivers' testimony in Mississippi, he said every time he told the FDA ``alkaloids'' were measured, he meant to say ``ammonia.''
Ammonia is a tobacco additive that anti-smokers - backed by once-secret industry documents - contend helps boost smokers' absorption of nicotine.
Indeed, Rivers also testified in Mississippi that ammonia was added to tobacco specifically to affect nicotine.
But when Philip Morris attorney Stephen Susman asked Rivers if the company had a specified standard for nicotine levels, Rivers responded: ``I have never seen one.'' He conceded he had never told an employee to reprocess a batch of tobacco based on nicotine levels, only when the amount of ammonia was not correct.
LENGTH: Medium: 84 linesby CNB