ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, September 18, 1996 TAG: 9609180105
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
IF THE RESEARCH was negative, one memo from a Philip Morris scientist said,
``we will want to bury it.''
Key Philip Morris officials suggested that internal documents about
sensitive research by a German laboratory be destroyed and that the company
take special precautions to make sure negative information was kept secret,
according to documents filed Tuesday in a Minnesota lawsuit.
A November 1977 memo by a Philip Morris scientist to the company's director of research said that if studies on nicotine's addictive properties turned out unfavorably ``we will want to bury it.''
``Accordingly, there are only two copies of this memo, the one attached and the original, which I have,'' scientist William Dunn wrote to research director Thomas S. Osdene.
Another document made public Tuesday was an undated, unsigned, handwritten memo from Osdene's files. It includes the direction that ``if important letters or documents have to be sent, please send them to home, where I will act on them & destroy.'' The document ``appears to be'' in Osdene's handwriting, according to the brief filed by lawyers working for the Minnesota attorney general.
Minnesota has sued all the major tobacco companies seeking reimbursement for the cost of treating poor people who suffer smoking-related illnesses. The state alleges that the tobacco companies suppressed research about tobacco's addictive nature and the health hazards stemming from smoking.
The documents offered new details about the German laboratory, called INBIFO, which was purchased in 1971 by Philip Morris' Swiss subsidiary, Fabrique Tabac Reunies, or FTR. INBIFO is a German acronym for Institute for Biological Research.
Corey L. Gordon, one of the attorneys for Minnesota, asserted in a motion filed Tuesday that Philip Morris ``has long viewed INBIFO as a good place to conduct potentially damaging research, perhaps beyond the purview of discovery.''
In a 1977 memo, Philip Morris Vice President Robert Seligman stressed to a colleague that the company had taken ``great pains to eliminate any written contact'' between the cigarette manufacturer and the lab. Seligman suggested that some test samples be sent to a ``dummy'' mailing address in Cologne, Germany, and that written reports from INBIFO be routed to FTR in Switzerland in order to avoid direct contact between INBIFO and Philip Morris, U.S.A.
The same year Dunn wrote his memo to Osdene about a proposed study into the addictive properties of nicotine. ``If [the researcher] is able to demonstrate, as she anticipates, no withdrawal effects of nicotine, we will want to pursue this avenue with some vigor. If, however, the results with nicotine are similar to those gotten with morphine and caffeine, we will want to bury it.''
All the memos made public record Tuesday are part of Minnesota's effort to compel Philip Morris and other defendants in the extensive lawsuit to respond to written questions relating to alleged document destruction. Minnesota lawyer Gordon said that discovery in the case revealed ``a disturbing number of instances of the destruction - or potential destruction - of relevant documents.''
Philip Morris lawyer Michael York said, ``obviously we take this very, very seriously. We're going to respond to this motion in detail, in full, in court.''
He particularly took issue with the allegation that Philip Morris appears to have a ``pervasive philosophy'' of suppressing or destroying unfavorable research.
``That is absolutely untrue,'' York said. ``There is no such philosophy by the company; there never has been. We've been served with massive requests for production of documents. We are working literally night and day to comply with the production schedule.''
Veteran industry critics such as Chicago lawyer Cliff Douglas, who wrote a secret briefing memo for the White House on INBIFO last year, said the newly released documents lend support to the contentions of Ian Uydess, a former Philip Morris scientist who told the Food and Drug Administration in March that the company had used INBIFO to conduct secret research abroad in hopes of keeping it out of the hands of anti-smoking forces in the United States.
LENGTH: Medium: 79 linesby CNB