Executives deny adding nicotine to cigarettes

They came, testified, and gave no quarter. Top executives from the U.S.'s seven largest tobacco firms are sworn in at a hearing before the House Subcommittee on Health & the Environment, chaired by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D.-Calif.). The executives heatedly rejected charges by subcommittee members: They said their companies do not add nicotine to cigarettes, manipulate amounts of nicotine in them, or use patented processes to increase nicotine levels. They asserted that cigarette smoking is not addictive and that they have not suppressed research allegedly showing nicotine's habit-forming nature (C&EN, April 11, page 6). Furthermore, argued James W. Johnston (second from right), chief executive officer of R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., giving the Food & Drug Administration authority to regulate nicotine levels would be "back-door prohibition," essentially banning cigarettes. Subcommittee members demanded additional information, including all internal memos and industry studies on the addictiveness of cigarette...