ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 16, 1996 TAG: 9601160072
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
Secret Philip Morris documents indicate the company runs a ``tobacco extract factory'' that adds nicotine to cigarettes in precise measurements, argues a legal brief under court seal.
The brief, obtained by The Associated Press, contradicts Philip Morris testimony before Congress and prompted a lawmaker to demand Monday that company executives explain the discrepancies to a congressional committee.
``These documents completely contradict the sworn testimony,'' said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif. ``We used to think that nicotine was a simple byproduct of an agricultural product. Now we're seeing that the level of nicotine is very precisely spelled out.''
The brief, written by lawyers for ABC-TV a month before the network settled its libel suit with Philip Morris last summer, purports to quote Philip Morris employee manuals and other documents saying the company extracts nicotine from tobacco that it throws away, then adds this nicotine to other tobacco batches.
Philip Morris attorney Michael York called the accusations ``preposterous,'' and noted that ABC a month later apologized for reporting that the company spiked its cigarettes with nicotine.
The documents cited in the brief remain under seal in state court in Richmond, so the brief's assertions could not be independently verified.
``Philip Morris adds a nicotine-containing solution - manufactured from some other tobacco - to that original tobacco material,'' the brief reads. ``This bears repeating: The nicotine applied is derived from another source.''
The brief also quotes an employee training manual instructing workers to measure the amount of nicotine and other chemicals in the tobacco as it is being processed ``once per hour to ensure they are within specified ranges.''
Philip Morris told Congress in 1994 that it merely adds back to tobacco the natural nicotine that literally floats out as it is processed and that it only measures nicotine content twice, in raw tobacco and finished cigarettes.
York insisted Monday that the brief doesn't prove otherwise.
And while all the extracts are measured once an hour, nicotine is not singled out, and the amount eventually added back to tobacco is 15 percent to 20 percent lower than that found in raw tobacco, he said.
Companies sweep up tobacco stems and other refuse, boil them and mash them into ``reconstituted tobacco'' sheets usable for cigarettes. When soaked in water, nicotine and other chemicals float out of tobacco. Philip Morris says it simply stores those extracts and adds them back once the tobacco sheets are formed.
The legal brief, however, says Philip Morris soaks the tobacco not in clean water but in a nicotine-containing solution called ``rich brown water.''
LENGTH: Medium: 57 linesby CNB