Brown & Williamson document titled "Environment"

This article is part of the Tobacco portal on Sourcewatch funded from 2006 - 2009 by the American Legacy Foundation.

The document, estimated to date around 1976, consists of four pages of future-oriented questions about factors that could potentially affect tobacco sales and use into the future. Some of the questions are contain frank references to tobacco as a drug and a "sociological crutch," its addictive properties, the clear recognition of the harm tobacco causes, references to finding an "antidote" to nicotine addiction, and more.

Some of the questions posed in the document include:

• "WILL HYDROPONICS OR CELL CULTURE OR TISSUE CULTURE REDUCE CANCER CAUSING AGENTS IN CIGARETTES?"
  

• "WILL A RISE IN U.S. STANDARD OF LIVING FACILITATE ENTRY OF A TOBACCO & MARIJUANA MIXTURE INTO THE MARKET? OR WILL SUCH A RISE ALSO CAUSE MORE LEISURE TIME WHICH IN TURN WILL ALSO EASE ENTRY OF TOBACCO-MARIJUANA INTO THE MARKET?"
  

• "WILL CPSC [Consumer Products Safety Commission?] FORCE SELF-IGNITING CIGARETTES FOR SAFER DRIVING, ETC.?"
  

• "WILL POLONIUM IN THE SOIL BE COUNTERED BY HYDROPONIC CULTURE?
  

[Note: Polonium is the source of radioactive Polonium-210 in cigarette smoke.]

• "WILL TOBACCO BE REPLACED AS A SOCIOLOGICAL CRUTCH? (I.E., NO LONGER SEEN AS REBELLION, THEREFORE, NO MORE PRESSURE ETC.)
  

• "WHAT WILL BE THE EFFECT OF INCREASE (OR DECREASE) IN BREAST FEEDING OR NEED FOR ORAL GRATIFICATION?"
  

• "IF MARIJUANA IS LEGALIZED, WILL TOBACCO GIVE ENOUGH OF A HIGH BY ITSELF TO COMPETE?"
  

• "WILL AN ANTIDOTE BE DEVELOPED TO COMBAT NICOTINE ADDICTION?"
  

• "WILL NEW DELIVERY SYSTEMS CAUSE MORE HARM (E.G., DIFFERENT CANCERS OR MORE NUMEROUS CANCERS) THAN IS BEING CAUSED NOW BY INHALATION?"
  

• "CAN A METHOD BE FOUND TO DELIVER NICOTINE (AND THC) TO THE THE BODY WITHOUT FILLING THE LUNGS WITH SMOKE? WOULD USE OF VARIOUS BODY-ENTRY POINTS BE ACCEPTABLE TO THE CONSUMER?"
  

The concern that tobacco use may one day no longer be seen as "rebellion," and that a decrease in social pressure to use the substance (presumably among youth) may ensue indicates tobacco industry reliance on these phenomena to generate new smokers. The notion that an "antidote" might one day be found to "combat nicotine addiction" indicates recognition that nicotine addiction is viewed by greater society as problematic. The concern that a tobacco "high" might one day have to compete with the "high" provided by legalized marijuana indicates how the tobacco industry views its products within the context of the greater drug world.

Title ENVIRONMENT
Date 00000000 (undated)
Type Report, other
Bates 670118414/8417
Collection Brown & Williamson
Pages 4
URL: http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/zpf14f00