Tobacco Firm Chief Lied, Scientist Says

A onetime top scientist for Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. has testified that the company’s former chairman lied under oath to Congress two years ago when he said he did not believe nicotine is addictive--an allegation that company lawyers spent Friday denying.

The testimony of Jeffrey S. Wigand, the tobacco industry’s highest-profile defector, is contained in a sealed deposition that was leaked to the Wall Street Journal and published Friday. Wigand, who was Brown & Williamson’s research chief until 1993, also said the cigarette company’s attorneys repeatedly concealed damaging scientific research.

Wigand’s charges against the Louisville, Ky., cigarette manufacturer and its former chairman, Thomas E. Sandefur, sent Brown & Williamson lawyers scurrying to defend their client, mostly by attacking Wigand’s credibility.

“This man’s life appears to be a pattern of lies,” Atlanta attorney Gordon Smith said. Smith said investigators have turned up evidence that Wigand was arrested for shoplifting within the last five years, that he was once charged with spousal abuse and that he had been sued for failure to pay child support. Wigand’s attorney told the Journal that the personal allegations against his client were withdrawn in all three cases.

Smith also said Wigand, who has not yet been cross-examined by tobacco company lawyers, was fired by the company, which said Wigand was “less than truthful and being abusive to co-workers.” He predicted that Wigand would be proved “a master of deceit” on cross-examination.

Wigand’s attorney, Richard Scruggs, who is also Mississippi’s lead lawyer in the case, did not return calls seeking comment Friday.

Wigand’s accusations pose a serious threat to the tobacco industry at a time when it is under intense pressure on a number of fronts. His deposition, taken in November at a courthouse in Pascagoula, Miss., is part of a lawsuit filed by the Mississippi attorney general’s office seeking to force tobacco companies to pay the cost of health care for smoking-related diseases. Several other states--including Florida, Minnesota and West Virginia--have filed similar suits.

In addition, the Food and Drug Administration is attempting to declare nicotine an addictive drug in an effort to place even stricter limits on cigarette advertising. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has proposed a rule that would ban smoking in all workplaces.

Meanwhile, in Washington, a federal grand jury is looking into precisely what Wigand alleges: that cigarette industry executives perjured themselves in their testimony before Congress about the addictive nature of nicotine and whether they manipulated its content in their cigarettes.

At a hearing on Capitol Hill in April 1994, Sandefur stated under oath that he believed nicotine is not addictive. But according to the Journal’s account, Wigand directly contradicted his former boss, saying, “There have been numerous statements made by a number of officers, particularly Mr. Sandefur, that we’re in the nicotine delivery business.”

Wigand also accused a top Brown & Williamson lawyer of deleting 12 pages of minutes concerning company research into the possible development of a safer cigarette. The newspaper reported that the lawyer removed the references to protect the company from liability. Sandefur supported the lawyer’s action, Wigand testified.

Wigand also said the company added a dangerous substance called coumarin, which is present in some rat poisons, to its pipe tobacco, over his objections that it was unsafe.

Smith, the lawyer for Brown & Williamson, acknowledged Friday that although the company did at one time use coumarin (it does not any longer, he said), it did so “in a manner that was entirely safe for humans.”

Wigand first made news in November, when the CBS program “60 Minutes,” which had interviewed with him, decided not to broadcast it. CBS commentator Mike Wallace said Friday that the interview will now air on “60 Minutes” a week from Sunday.

Wigand said in the CBS interview that he was the victim of a systematic smear campaign that involved private investigators.

Associated Press contributed to this report.

* CHEAP SMOKES

Discount cigarette stores are opening throughout state. A1