Active Participation By B&W Personnel

B&W had at least one delegate at each of the seventeen research conferences held between 1962 and 1985 (see table 7.2). BAT representatives from the United Kingdom, Canada, and Germany also attended each research conference. Brazil was regularly represented by the mid-1970s while Australia was represented only occasionally. In addition, as described below, B&W scientists attended other BAT R&D meetings and conferences, including meetings on the direction of the biological testing programs, such as Project Janus.

B&W contributed experiments to Project Janus (see chapter 4) {1164.03; 1112.04}. A B&W scientist was a member of the Biological Testing Committee. Moreover, B&W scientists made site visits to BAT research labs in the United Kingdom. Dr. R. B. Griffith visited Southampton in the summer of 1965 {1105.01}, and Dr. Robert R. Johnson made an extensive visit in mid-1967 {1109.01}.

B&W scientists sometimes made comments on proposed agendas of research conferences and edited drafts of minutes that resulted from these meetings. For example, Dr. Robert Sanford of B&W made detailed suggestions to Dr. S. J. Green of BAT for revising draft minutes of the 1968 Hilton Head research conference (discussed in chapter 4) {1112.02}. The B&W general counsel, Addison Yeaman, received a copy of this letter. Dr. Alan Heard of BAT Southampton sent Dr. R. A. Sanford a questionnaire about the draft agenda for the 1980 Sea Island research conference. As described in chapters 3 and 4, Dr. Sanford responded with a number of comments about areas of research, such as inhalation, that should not be further pursued {1132.01}. In July 1983 the director of R&D at Millbank, Dr. L. C. F. Blackman, sent Earl Kohnhorst of R&D B&W the proposed agenda for the 1983 research conference in Rio and asked him to comment on it {1180.05}. Similarly, draft minutes of the 1983 Rio meeting were sent to B&W for comment and feedback. Edits appearing in handwriting in the draft from B&W's files {1180.09} were incorporated into the final set of minutes {1180.07}. These editorial changes in-

cluded the excision of a phrase referring to a filter developed at B&W. Thus, under a discussion of research at the German affiliate, the draft minutes contain the following paragraph about filter variants:

A description was given of a number of filter designs capable of directing smoke to specific areas of the mouth. This technology, which is an extension of the B&W Actron concept, has led to patent applications. Results

with other novel filters which make use of the principles of 'smoke elasticity' were given. {1180.09, p. 14}

The phrase "which is an extension of the B&W Actron concept" is lined out in the draft, and the final version of the minutes reflects this edit {1180.09, p. 14}.

The minutes of the Rio conference also discuss an information exchange system called Interbat {1180.07}. The minutes indicate that there were mechanisms within Interbat's structure to control the flow of "sensitive reports or information."

With the growing interest and use of INTERBAT, CAC Companies should be reminded that facilities are available to limit or block access to sensitive reports or information. {1180.07, p. 16}

The CAC Companies were the members of the Chairman's Advisory Conference, BAT affiliates in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Australia, and Germany, the places outside the United Kingdom where BAT maintained research facilities. The draft minutes circulated at B&W include a marginal note stating, "We own 1/3 share" {1180.09, p. 15}, which indicates that B&W was a participant in the Interbat system. The documents do not indicate exactly what information was shared on the Interbat system, but it might be the information retrieval and sharing system recommended for BAT's R&D by a consultant in 1979 {1175.03, p. 7}. Southampton, Louisville, and Hamburg were each to have input into the design of the system, and this might explain the reason B&W bore a third of the costs.

Furthermore, the minutes of the Rio conference include a list of the dozen technical meetings that had been held over the past year (including a "smoking behaviour" conference in the United States in March 1983) and conclude,

It was agreed that the meetings had been a highly effective means of exchanging technology throughout the Group, and that a similar level should be maintained in the future. {1180.07, p. 16}

These conferences covered a wide range of issues in research and development. The full list of immediate past and future BAT technical exchange meetings for 1982–1985, as it appeared in the Rio conference documents {1181.14}, is shown in table 7.3. The comment from the conference minutes suggests that participants at each conference included individuals from various BAT companies. These frequent exchanges (nine or ten a year) clearly permitted companies not doing the actual research

work or receiving formal reports to benefit from the results of the work being done throughout the group. It may be that, after lawyers at B&W became more concerned about what was discoverable in its files in the late 1970s and early 1980s, these conferences were scheduled more often so that not as much paper would have to change hands.

B&W scientists also attended meetings other than the annual research conferences. For example, Dr. Sanford was one of eight participants from four operating companies who attended the R&D Policy Conference held at Chewton Glen and Torquay in February 1979 {1175.03}; and Earl Kohnhorst attended a Chairman's Advisory Conference meeting at Wallingford, England, in September 1985. In the notes on this meeting, Kohnhorst is listed as a speaker on several technical topics to be

discussed at the 1985 research conference scheduled for November of that year in Rio {1182.01}.

Records of some of the series of meetings held from the mid-1960s through at least 1983 to monitor toxicological (biological) research, including Project Janus, are included in the documents {1164.03 through 1164.26}. B&W personnel participated in three of the meetings for which records are available. R. B. Griffith is listed as a "member" of the Biological Testing Committee in the minutes of the Southampton meeting held in June 1969 {1164.03}; R. A. Sanford is listed as a guest at the same meeting. Dr. Sanford was also present at the May 1970 meeting of this committee {1164.05}, and J. G. Esterle attended the November 1977 meeting {1164.23}.

The documents also include the participant list for the Smoking Behaviour/Marketing Conference held in Montreal in 1983 {1224.01, unnumbered page}. This conference featured major presentations of BAT-sponsored research for marketing personnel of BAT-affiliated companies. B&W personnel in attendance at this conference included the section head of Sensory Evaluation (W. H. Deines), the division head of Product Development (Tilford Riehl), and a representative from Marketing (Andy Mellman).