Comments on: TOMORROW: THE BATTLE OVER BATTELLE!

By: Goadii

Goadii — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 11:37:03 +0000

You write: “In Ocober 2004 the industry left $3 billion on the table so as to not be regulated by FDA.”

Wrong. Congress did not pass this legislation. Altria was for it, for whatever reason, and the other players in the oligopolistic tobacco market would have had to accept FDA regualation.

“While disgorgement of profits might be problematic Judge Kessler should insist on oversight by FDA or another body that regulates WMDs(a Presidential Executive Order?).”

Why don’t you talk about the real issues surrounding disgorgement?

This is a cowardly CIVIL case. The DOJ knew they couldn’t win a CRIMINAL case because of a pesky thing called proof beyond a reasonable doubt (virtually 100%); civil cases basically require a 51% guilty to win.

This is why disgorgement will be tossed, and tossed very soon. This case has been a horrible waste of money. I am all for tobacco regulation, but this case is not the proper mechanism. Government is pissed because it was cut out of the MSA, plain and simple. Kessler gutted the case early on, but somehow allowed disgorement to stay on the table. She will be embarassed in due time.

And, lastly, smoking is bad for you. Smoking is regulated by the FTC, a federal agency. Does this not seem like a joke to now say that, while tobacco complied with the FTC, tobacco is guility under RICO? Isn’t the FTC part and privy to the same conspiracy? What about all the “ill-gotten” tax revenues that came from the sales?

By: tobacco observer

tobacco observer — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 23:09:01 +0000

Doctor,

Since you are raising allegations of fraud do you happen to have data that document the content of aflatoxins in currently marketed cigarettes, and more importantly in the inhaled smoke? Surely you do, right? Is it possible that there is virtually NO measureable aflatoxin content in the vast majority of commercially available cigarettes?

You wouldn’t be an individual who stands to personally profit from holding a patent on a process intended to reduce alleged aflatoxin content in cigarettes, would you?

Thanks.

Incidentally, aflatoxin actually is NOT “a coumarin” (ask Dr. Wigand about this). In fact coumarins (which have been used to flavor cigarettes) have been shown experimentally in laboratory animals to REDUCE the carcinogenic effect of aflatoxin.

As you also know, Philip Morris was, and continues to be, a strong advocate and supporter of the failed FDA regulation you mentioned. Its a bit disingenuous of you to promulgate a global American tobacco conspiracy when the United State’s largest cigarette manufacturer is still calling for increased Federal oversight over tobacco manufacture and marketing.

http://www.philipmorrisusa.com/en/policies_practices/legislation_regulation/fda_tobacco.asp

Alas, Judge Kessler does not have the authority to insist on oversight by the FDA of tobacco. That oversight must be granted by Congress, not by judicial fiat.

Finally, if you truly believe that infinitestimal quantities of aflatoxin constitute “weapons of mass destruction” as you vividly exaggerate above, I invite you have your home refrigerator examined by the FBI counterterrorism unit. That jar of peanut butter in the bottom drawer could be discovered by wily agents of Al Queda and used for nefarious purposes.

By: Kerry S Lane MD

Kerry S Lane MD — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 21:57:45 +0000

From the Battelle document…”We must discover the carcinogen… and attempt to demonstrate our ability to remove or neutralize them.” In 1965 Dr. Tom Osdene, who incidentally took the Fifth Amendment over 100 times on the stand(obstuction of justice..?),had ordered a literature survey on aflatoxin, a fungal carcinogen first identified in 1960. Hundreds of aflatoxin documents can be found on the PM website from the 1960s. The FRAUD OF THE CENTURY is the industry knew aflatoxin was an integral contaminant of tobacco(a coumarin,see Wigand, The Insider) and, as the most potent carcinogen ever identified, was a major health menace from tobacco use. FDA began regulating aflatoxin in 1966, yet the industry defied regulation then, as now. In Ocober 2004 the industry left $3 billion on the table so as to not be regulated by FDA. The BAT Montreal Conference (1967) memo expresses this concern over potential FDA regulation and even names Senators who had been influenced the see this, then and now, never came to pass. The FRAUD is they knew fungal toxins on tobacco where deadly, yet they denied any cancer tobacco link until they turned 180 degrees in the late 1990s. Not only did the tobacco industry claim the moon was made out of swiss cheese, they spent billions of dollars on advertising and research to prove it was, all the while knowing the cheese was contaminated with a deadly fungal carcinogen,immune suppressant and AIDS enhancer.
While disgorgement of profits might be problematic Judge Kessler should insist on oversight by FDA or another body that regulates WMDs(a Presidential Executive Order?). Aflatoxin is regulated in Interstate commerce, by the Bioterrorism Act of 2002 and the Effective Death Penalty Act of 1997. Perhaps there is a role here for the new Attorney General or Gov. Ridge’s successor-for security reasons- although 400,000 deaths per year may not constitute enough of a threat…
This ongoing criminal misuse of attorney client privlege should stop and this FRAUD on the public should end as well. As part of a settlement the industry should submit to regulation or be forced into bankruptcy. See www.TobaccoAflatoxinAlert.org and Google “tobacco aflatoxin”.