DATE: Thursday, September 18, 1997          TAG: 9709180019

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B10  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial 

                                            LENGTH:   53 lines

HAGER'S TOBACCO PROBLEM NICOTINE STAIN MEMO RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT THE GOP CANDIDATE FOR LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR.

Many Virginians are sympathetic to the plight of small-time farmers who depend on tobacco as a cash crop. But over time, they have become less forgiving of the efforts of big-time tobacco companies to drum up business.

That's why a recent disclosure is bad news for John H. Hager, a retired executive of the American Tobacco Co. who is also the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor.

Hager has long described his job as that of a ``leaf man,'' who dealt primarily in tobacco supply. That niche conveniently insulated him from the thicket of controversies at the marketing end of the business.

But attorneys in a Pennsylvania lawsuit against cigarette makers have turned up a 1972 memo in which Hager advised his company's president on ways to increase nicotine levels in cigarettes. The Richmond Times-Dispatch obtained a transcript of pretrial testimony in which the candidate discussed the memo.

While Hager maintains that his hand-written comments were merely a ``scratch note'' responding to a theoretical question, talk of hyping nicotine levels is a no-no in today's political climate. It's one thing if smokers are making an informed decision to risk their health. It's another if tobacco companies are manipulating the product to keep them hooked.

The memo, which was written during a three-year period in which Hager headed research and development efforts for American Tobacco, cited several ways to increase nicotine levels: altering the mix of tobaccos, avoiding use of tobacco stems (which have a low nicotine level), changing cigarette papers and simply adding ``Compound W'' - the company's code name for ``nicotine.''

Hager says that, to his knowledge, none of the alternatives was pursued by American Tobacco. But attorneys for the litigants in the Pennsylvania case say the methods prescribed are precisely the ways in which tobacco companies have elevated nicotine levels.

The impact on the contest for lieutenant governor is diminished by the fact that Hager's opponent, Democrat L. F. Payne, also is a supporter of tobacco interests. A former 5th District congressman, Payne represented many of the state's growers in Congress.

But there may be a distinction in voters' minds between protecting the livelihoods of a group of farmers and aggressively marketing a product of great risk to public health. Payne is identified with the former; the 1972 memo puts Hager in league with the latter.

For many years, tobacco was as Virginian as Shenandoah Valley apples and Chesapeake Bay oysters. It's Hager's misfortune to be running in a era when the tables have turned.

These days, it's not just jilted lovers who can sing ``Smoke Gets In Your Eyes.'' It's candidates too.

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