The Cigarette Papers "d0e4664"

Hilton Head Research Conference, 1968

A dozen company scientists from various countries, including Sir Charles Ellis and Dr. R. B. Griffith, attended the 1968 research conference, held at Hilton Head, South Carolina. The conclusions reached during the proceedings on a wide range of topics were summarized by the conference chairman, Dr. S. J. Green of BAT, in a six-page set of minutes {1112.01}. The documents also include a thoughtful letter to Dr. Green in which

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B&W's technical manager, Dr. R. A. Sanford, comments on these minutes {1112.02}. The mood that comes through the conference report is one of cautious optimism. The R&D labs seemed to be making incremental but important progress in developing the capacity to make cigarettes that had reduced activity in biological tests but still would deliver nicotine (see chapter 3).

Dr. Green's minutes and Dr. Sanford's letter describe the contrasting concepts of "health-image" and "health-oriented" cigarettes {1112.01, p. 2}. This discussion goes to the heart of the company's approaches to the problems posed by the toxicity of their products. In the official conference summary, Dr. Green expresses the consensus of the delegates on this subject.

Research staff should lay down guide lines against which alternative products can be chosen in everyday operations. Although there may, on occasions, be conflict between saleability and minimal biological activity, two types of product should be clearly distinguished , viz:

a)	A Health-image (health-reassurance) cigarette.
b)	A Health-oriented (minimal biological activity) cigarette, to be kept on the market for those consumers choosing it [emphasis added]. 1112.01, p. 2}

In his letter to Dr. Green, Dr. Sanford suggests this clarification of the discussion and the consensus:

We find [this conclusion] confusing. Would it be better to say "A new product development might give undesirable biological test results, and the research staff should lay down guidelines insuring, in context of present understanding, a new product would have no greater activity in biological testing than current products. Preferably, the new product would give lower values. It was also recognized that there are two types of health products possible and that they should be distinguished.

a)	Health image (health reassurance cigarette) such as a low tar—low nicotine cigarette which the public accepts as a healthier cigarette and
b)	Health-oriented cigarette which has minimal biological activity; for example, one which would yield a near zero reading in a mouse skin painting test"? [emphasis added]. {1112.02, p. 1}

The term "biological activity" is a euphemism for toxicity and, especially, for carcinogenicity.

The "health-image" cigarette meets public relations needs, while the "health-oriented" cigarette serves a public health function (2). This interchange suggests that the company's scientists believed that low-tar and low-nicotine cigarettes conferred few, if any, actual benefits on the

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smoker, and that these products were mainly a marketing device because the public "accept[ed]" the view that these cigarettes were less toxic (see chapter 2). Also striking is Dr. Sanford's remark that, in the opinion of those at the conference, any future product should have no greater biological (carcinogenic) activity than existing ones. This consensus is, of course, an implicit recognition of the fact that cigarettes are actually toxic.

The minutes summarize other key conclusions of the Hilton Head Conference:

1.	It is clear that a number of features of cigarettes can modify the biological activity of smoke condensate. These include the incorporation of PCL [processed cigarette leaf] and CRS [cut, rolled stem], the form of the smoking vehicle, the type of tobacco, the presence of additives and the volume of puff taken in smoking the cigarette. These factors will become increasingly important when future cigarettes are designed.
2.	The biological results are also indicating the importance of both [cancer] initiators and promoters in smoke and this lead should be followed up vigorously in the biological research .
3.	Studies in instant condensate are showing a biological activity towards mouse-skin of the same order as that of stale condensate, suggesting that the biological activity is not time-dependent. The clear possibility of producing cigarettes with reduced mouse-skin biological activity therefore becomes of greater importance and a research solution to the whole problem is more likely.
4.	There was general agreement that a cigarette with such reduced mouseskin biological activity should be produced; other biological features, e.g. irritation, ciliastasis, must also be satisfied simultaneously [emphasis added]. {1112.01, pp. 1–2}

A number of other topics received attention during the discussions—among them, the development (at BAT's contract lab in Frankfurt) of reliable short-term tests to screen for carcinogenic activity; the merits of a noninhalable cigarette to protect smokers from developing emphysema, bronchitis, or cardiovascular diseases, conditions that depend on the inhalation of cigarette smoke for their development; the possibility of making a less irritating cigarette by lowering the proportion of nicotine compared to tar in the smoke (a filter from Germany, identified as the R6-acid filter, is mentioned in this connection); and the possible reduction of carbon monoxide levels in mainstream smoke through filtration or tobacco rod modifications with reconstituted tobacco. While these ideas apparently were not major focal points of product development at the time, their discussion reveals that BAT scientists thought that cigarette smoke inhalation was related to a number of diseases in addition to lung cancer and that nicotine was an irritant in cigarette smoke.

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The conference participants' commitment to making cigarettes less dangerous, as measured by bioassay, is clear in the following conclusions:

13.	Following discussion of the specific examples, it was agreed that no synthetic smoking material can be considered for product development unless the biological activity of its condensate is less than that of modified tobaccos or PCL. Despite the disappointing results reported by Montreal and Southampton on the Bell and Laing modified cigarettes—with an axial channel through a tobacco column of increased packing density—it was agreed worthwhile to attempt to acquire the patent for a reasonable sum, because it represents an alternative approach to cigarette design, in which B-A.T. already has some patent protection [i.e., Ariel].
14.	The adoption of an objective to make cigarettes which yield condensates with lower biological activity (but which must sell on their ordinary qualities) reduces the degrees of freedom in terms of taste, acceptability, economics, etc. in cigarette design. Because of its importance in smoker preference, there is a need to expand the systematic examination of the effects of casings and flavours on the flavour and aroma of cigarette smoke.
	It was agreed it would be unreasonable to hold up the introduction of a new development of a significant nature until it had been proved conclusively to be of lower biological activity. Provided that available short-term tests had been passed, and the development was judged to be in the right direction, the meeting agreed that the development could well be introduced subject to the immediate initiation of long term testing procedures. {1112.01, pp. 4–5}

The invention referred to in paragraph 13 may be described in a US patent issued in 1971 and assigned to B&W (13). The patent, filed a few weeks before the conference, describes an article that arranges tobacco in a cigarette-like device around a central core. The core contains material capable of removing toxins such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from the smoke. The tobacco is lit. As puffs are taken, tobacco smoke is channeled through the central core on its way to the consumer.

Finally, the conference report includes a reminder of the need to increase communication among the laboratories. There is also a veiled reference to limits on communication for some information because of "special legal agreements." This restriction may be a reference to trade secrets or, perhaps more likely, to efforts to insulate B&W from receiving reports that might be embarrassing for it to have in its R&D files (see chapter 7).

The various changes in organisation were outlined and their effects in terms of communication links [between laboratories at the several operating companies] were discussed. It was concluded that there is still a need to strengthen these links in addition to personal visits, but it must be recognised that there

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can be occasions when these must be restricted to certain channels because of special legal agreements entered into by individual companies. {1112.01, pp. 5–6}