YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → Jeffrey Wigand lecture "Smoke screen: courtship of our children", 2002-09-23

Jeffrey Wigand lecture "Smoke screen: courtship of our children", 2002-09-23 — Transcript

by Ball State University Libraries · 7,834 words · 1,153 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:00order yes we have to good afternoon
0:06University my name is Jeff Clark I'm an
0:09associate professor in the department of
0:10physiology and health science and it's
0:12my pleasure we'll get to introduce dr.
0:15yn tonight
0:15before I introduce dr. wagon and why
0:18you're here listen to him I like to make
0:22a special recognition of those
0:23organizations and people who have been
0:25responsible muttering dr. wagons visit
0:28here the following organizations are the
0:31Fisher Institute of wellness smoke-free
0:34Indiana smoke-free kids the Department
0:38of physiology and health science and the
0:40American Cancer Society of Delaware
0:42County
0:43so give our thanks to those folks
0:53last day and a half of Enel spent
0:55considerable time with dr. Wigand I've
0:56got to know him fairly well I've enjoyed
0:58the time he's he's quite a pleasure to
1:01be around and to tell you a little bit
1:03about dr. wagon no but beyond all the
1:05things that we've shared I promise not
1:07to say some of the things he said to me
1:08but dr. wagon is a yes from New York
1:12City is born and raised in New York City
1:13and now calls Charleston South Carolina
1:16it is home
1:17he's earned academic degrees from the
1:19University of Buffalo School of Medicine
1:21and bioscience biomedical science scuse
1:24me and recently obtained a master's
1:26degree in secondary education from the
1:28University of Louisville he's also
1:32taught Japanese and science at the
1:35DuPont manual school High School in
1:36Louisville he's recognized nationally
1:39for his achievements as a educator he
1:42recognizes the first teacher first class
1:45teacher of the year in 1996 he was one
1:48of 51 teachers recognized nationwide for
1:51this currently he teaches a course in
1:55ethics at Chapel Hill University of
1:57North Carolina - primarily business
2:00students he does research and
2:02publication in areas of cessation and
2:06cessation programs he's also worked at
2:11some major corporations
2:13Weisser corporation Johnson & Johnson
2:15he's the vice was the vice president of
2:18research and development for brown and
2:20Williams
2:21tobacco company the second largest
2:23tobacco company in the world if I
2:25remember correctly and as also many of
2:28you may know him from his stint on 60
2:31minutes and to bringing to light some of
2:34the things that are occurred in the
2:35tobacco industry and currently works
2:38within and I guess has organized a
2:43corporation called smoke-free Kids
2:45Incorporated so without any more
2:47information about dr. Wigand please
2:48welcome dr. white into our campus
3:01I'm somewhat tethered and as a my good
3:06everybody hear me good I'm gonna kind of
3:09wander around I can't stay behind the
3:11podium I kind of like a classroom
3:13teacher I got to kind of wander around
3:14and look at people's faces I have a
3:16number of things that I want to do
3:18tonight and some of them are gonna be
3:22pleasurable for folks to hear and some
3:26of it is gonna be a charge to exercise
3:28more duty and more responsibility but I
3:31want to add to dr. Clark's thank you I
3:33mean I thank him for kind of shepherding
3:35me back or up here back to Muncie and
3:39I'll tell you a little bit about that in
3:41a minute but also Lorraine Sinclair who
3:44actually is the one that called me here
3:46the organizer this I gotta thank
3:48Lorraine Sinclair because she convinced
3:50me to come back to Muncie and come back
3:53to Indiana and I'm gonna tell you a
3:55little bit about that
3:57but I always a debt of gratitude to many
4:00many many people and I owe that debt of
4:06gratitude for being able to be here
4:08tonight
4:10after many things that have happened
4:12over the last so 10 years and so some of
4:16them are some folks from Indiana and I'm
4:18gonna talk about Nancy dolor and
4:20Indianapolis who brought me first
4:23Indianapolis just when all the stuff was
4:26hitting the fan and I mean I had to read
4:30a speech that day at the Ruth Lilly
4:32foundation her prepared text by my
4:36attorneys because there was I was
4:39subject to enforceable of a restraining
4:42order that would put me in jail have I
4:44violated it the Jeff Manto said who was
4:47your ex Attorney General who secured my
4:51release on June 20th with 39 other
4:54Attorney General's from the lawsuit that
4:56the tobacco industry had amassed against
4:59me he got me back my First Amendment
5:02rights then and also to the people in
5:05Muncie because I was up here Muncie for
5:08better part of three months during that
5:10original Wiley trial and I got to live
5:13in a rat
5:14in hotel across from the Convention
5:16Center where the court was and it's nice
5:19to come back because when I was at the
5:24Radisson the first time it was a smoky
5:27environment I come back today well last
5:30night
5:30it's a smoke-free environment so if
5:34anything so I got lots to share with you
5:42some good some bad I have a charge my
5:46charge is fourfold
5:47first of all Indiana has distinguished
5:52itself in terms of the responsibility to
5:56reduce harm associated with your
5:59children it has chosen to spend out of
6:03its settlement funds about 20% of what
6:08is needed out of those funds to make an
6:11impact on the health issues associated
6:13with this state Indiana has the
6:17distinction of being the fifth highest
6:21rate of loss of life associated with
6:24tobacco related diseases in the country
6:26your state pays 1.2 billion dollars a
6:31year as direct cost associated with six
6:36smokers 90% of the smoke is in this
6:40state started as children not as adults
6:44who understand the issues and about the
6:47backhoe in it but being duped as a child
6:50the 36 million dollars that your state
6:54has chosen to pay out of this settlement
6:57billions of dollars it receives helps
7:00build a legacy of having a smoke-free
7:03Indiana reduced into one-point billion
7:06dollar cost and reducing one of the
7:08highest rates of lung cancer in this
7:10country I urge you as we go forward to
7:14take some of this information I'm gonna
7:16share with you and in the context of
7:18universe city and that's why I came back
7:20one of the University and the community
7:22bonding together to effect social change
7:25paradigm shift
7:27there's some work to be done that 35
7:30million plus dollars are at risk that
7:34means that the economics of the Indiana
7:36are causing people to rethink their duty
7:39to the inherence of your children your
7:42children's children and building a
7:44smoke-free environment so that's number
7:48one
7:49make sure that the settlement funds that
7:51have been secured which are the
7:53inheritance of your children and your
7:54children's children continue to be used
7:57to produce the results that reduce that
7:59burden of health was associate with
8:03tobacco use that 1.2 billion dollars and
8:06don't let them forget it that that cost
8:09of 1.2 billion comes out of your pocket
8:12number two is it 19 well 1998 there was
8:17a lawsuit that's thought that said the
8:19FDA can regulate or should be able to
8:22regulate tobacco products let's tell you
8:25what's in the package tell you how the
8:27nicotine is manipulated tell you what
8:29the tar is tell you when they leave
8:31pesticide residues in air tell you when
8:34they leave fermentation associated with
8:35bacterial growth and put it on the label
8:38just like your Twinkies your Oreo
8:41cookies your candy bars and any other
8:45product that you have and put that in
8:49the year 2000 the US Supreme Court said
8:52that the FDA did not have the
8:55jurisdiction to regulate the product on
8:58the 1936 six Food and Drug and Cosmetic
9:02Act that allows the FDA to regulate
9:05cosmetics foods and pharmaceuticals that
9:09the product in quote it's too harmful
9:14too dangerous to Mamie and too addictive
9:18and that the US Congress needs to write
9:22a regulation that allows the FDA or
9:24another organization to regulate a
9:27product when uses intended kills four
9:32hundred thirty thousand Americans and
9:34four million people in the world it's
9:38the only product that is unlabeled
9:41unregulated that has this capacity it
9:45costs us the federal tax dollars ninety
9:49billion dollars in direct health care
9:51costs it costs us a hunt one hundred and
9:54forty billion dollars in productivity
9:58for legal products and don't mistake I
10:02am not advocating making it illegal I'm
10:06gonna be advocating to keep it away from
10:08our children and putting it in the
10:11proper context as a product that when
10:14use as intended
10:15kills there are three thousand children
10:20a day in this country that become
10:23addicted average age eleven to twelve
10:28are they making a competent decision
10:31were they being duped and manipulated by
10:34industry they only can prey on the weak
10:36and the young and the insecure there's a
10:41child believe that when he picks up that
10:43first cigarette of the first dip that
10:46they're gonna attain thinness sexuality
10:52fun athleticism all with the advertising
10:57that this is an industry that spends ten
10:59billion dollars a year advertising this
11:02program product ten billion and if you
11:07divide the population of this country
11:09into the ten billion you understand what
11:12they spend per capita but 90% of those
11:16who smoke today do they smoke as adults
11:18about smoking as adults they started as
11:21children it's a disease of our children
11:25it's wasted upon our children by having
11:28an image created of sexuality of
11:32thinness of fun that turns into an
11:36addiction that's five times greater than
11:39cocaine or heroin and deprives them in
11:43the later years so that's why I said my
11:47argument is for regulated so that's
11:51number two help Congress understand
11:54amongst this other prior
11:55that we want them to follow the
11:57directive of the US Supreme Court and
12:00regulating the product just like we want
12:02to regulate Firestone tires and I want
12:05you to think about proportionality the
12:07US Congress wants to regulate Firestone
12:11tires which took the lives of two
12:13hundred people over a decade they want
12:17to regulate accountants who want to
12:20fudge the books after the Anacin in the
12:23Enron situation I want you to think
12:25about the indictments that are going on
12:28today of these executives skilling FASTA
12:33kowalski etc etc who actually misused in
12:38a broad federal or doesn't stockholder
12:41funds for personal enrichment they
12:45robbed people their 401k they robbed
12:48people their of their retirement funds
12:50and now I will share with you that the
12:54tobacco executives didn't do anything
12:56that they rob people of their lives they
13:01did would be deliberately and
13:03consciously for five decades plus
13:08deliberately and consciously obfuscated
13:12lied whether it be on the oath or the
13:16public health about the product they
13:18knew was addictive in 1954 the tobacco
13:23industry clearly understood they're in a
13:24covert pharmaceutical business nicotine
13:29they clearly understood that nicotine
13:32was the only reason people smoked in
13:351974 the industry understood clearly
13:41that secondhand smoke was just as
13:44dangerous if not more dangerous than
13:46actually smoking particularly for
13:48pediatrics and peds
13:55this is an industry that ultimately were
13:57going from the US Congress in April of
14:011994 and raised their right hand and
14:04swear under oath the product wasn't
14:07addictive it didn't cause disease it was
14:11there for taste and free choice so when
14:17you understand that should this be a
14:20product that was regulated like tires
14:22like the balance sheet in accountants
14:25should this product could become
14:26unfettered by an outside body that
14:29regulates it and does a bag for
14:34regulation doesn't warrant regulation
14:39and could we'd save lies by regulating
14:42it and not making you a little Eagle
14:44make it regulated would you want to know
14:49when the tobacco product that you using
14:51is contaminated where organic solvents
14:53paint thinners would you want to know
14:57when your tobacco product is
14:59contaminated pesticide residues would
15:04you want to know when the tobacco
15:05product that you're using is
15:07contaminated with bacteria
15:12would you want to know when the labeling
15:15the product does not convey the intent
15:17of the product when I label the product
15:20mild and life I convey a message of what
15:23reduce risk but the begin ministry ever
15:26tell anybody that they designed the
15:29cigarette to defeat the very testing
15:31that it co-opted with the federal trade
15:33government or corporate Federal Trade
15:36Commission about terms of monitoring tar
15:38and nicotine but the like Monica and
15:41mild Monica are greatly understated in
15:45terms of what the true delivery is and
15:47how predominantly female gender is paid
15:50the price for mild in life should they
15:53be able to use those Monica's third do
15:59we need to spend time more with our
16:01children giving them competencies to
16:04understand how to be manipulated and
16:08that means going out to the schools and
16:10at home Kevin good well I go up most of
16:13my time is spent the fourth of fifth
16:14grade classrooms around the world giving
16:18kids the opportunity to analytically
16:20encrypt and critically think about how
16:22the industry target and I spent today a
16:26little bit of middle school and these
16:29kids thirst for this kind of knowledge
16:30so that they are the targets of the
16:33industry those are the ones that are
16:35waiting to be manipulated so I urge you
16:38get out and deal with the issues of
16:39school and the kids from family to
16:43school and given those competencies and
16:46I like charge the kids in here at the
16:49University go out and do the social
16:52responsibility activity that allow you
16:54to share your knowledge in chemistry and
16:56biology and wellness and history and
16:59journalism and publishing and share with
17:02the kids so they don't become
17:03manipulated and the last thing is the
17:06whole issue how we deal with integrity
17:08in our lives and I must tell you I am
17:11startled at what's going on today the
17:16Enron's and the Qualcomm's show that we
17:19have become so immediately gratification
17:22materialistically driven
17:24that will do damn there anything to get
17:27it and I must tell you that's upsetting
17:30to me and where these folks stole money
17:36the industry I worked for for four years
17:39and three months stole lives and they
17:42did it at personal Richmond want to kind
17:45of jump a little bit now into what was
17:50it like inside a tobacco industry what
17:53what went on in there and I only can
17:55give you a picture and I only give it a
17:57picture through my eyes and one of
17:59things I experienced I want to tell a
18:02little bit about the aftermath how I
18:04talked a little bit about the movie and
18:05I want to read come back to why for
18:07charges they started with howdy is this
18:12function this week the University and
18:15the community the power of one coming
18:18together could make a difference can you
18:21make a smoke-free Indiana can you make a
18:23smoke-free Muncie can you give kids
18:26better competencies and my answer that
18:28together as this is you can do it it has
18:32happened and I have to say if I was to
18:35bet on Indiana in 1997 doing what it did
18:40I must say through the effort and
18:44courage of a lot of politicians you have
18:47the benefit of some of that and not to
18:50let it go don't let it go it's your
18:53children and your children's children
18:55and that money and that opportunity is
18:58their inheritance and as we leave this
19:01world for whatever short time it we need
19:03to leave it for the next generation and
19:05we shouldn't saddle the next generation
19:08with what we've experienced through am I
19:13going to fat I mean I'm from the Bronx
19:14so I mean I got a nice talk fast so
19:18let's move on a little bit
19:23I spent 25 years in corporate America my
19:2925 years was spent basically fortune 10
19:34healthcare pharmaceutical company
19:36companies leches like Johnson & Johnson
19:39and Pfizer and Merck I was paid well and
19:41I also though worked in companies where
19:44science was used for the search for
19:47truth and where science was used to make
19:50lives healthier reduce pain extend lives
19:54and make products that increased
19:57people's productivity and lifespan I did
20:01that for 25 years and I chose in 1988 to
20:06leave that environment and join in
20:09tobacco company and I did it consciously
20:13for a number of specific reasons I'm
20:16gonna share with you number one if I'd
20:19had daughters there were two years old
20:20in two months old and I lived in New
20:22York City area I thought that I didn't
20:25want them to experience the same way I
20:27grew up in New York City so I exported
20:30to get them outside New York City into a
20:32different environment Brown & Williamson
20:35offered me that opportunity because I
20:38got to take him from New York City area
20:40to Louisville Kentucky where the quality
20:43of life was substantially different and
20:45the grandparents also lived there so AI
20:48had immediate I thought family benefit
20:51second I got what I thought
20:54I'd I believe at the six months of
20:56intensive interviews with the senior
20:58management of not only BMW but baddest
21:01and also be 80 the parent company in UK
21:03that I would be able to use the science
21:05I'd use for so long to address a product
21:08that when users intended killed I
21:11clearly understood before I went that a
21:13competent nicotine was addictive I
21:15clearly understood that a cigarette or
21:18cigar or pipe tobacco when it burns
21:20generates four to eight thousand toxic
21:23chemicals that in many cases in many
21:25states you cannot legally bury them with
21:28your garbage
21:29they're so toxic and I believe that you
21:33couldn't make a safer cigarette a
21:34cigarette that reduced the
21:36biological risk for those as adults
21:39we're either addicted or chose to take
21:43on risky behavior the third is a big
21:49difference in salary I want to make from
21:51making roughly about two hundred
21:53thousand dollars a year in compensation
21:55but close to half a million dollars as
21:57compensation and so I thought I had the
22:00best of all worlds family personal and
22:03the opportunity my the science that I'd
22:05use so well I also had a daughter that
22:08was born with a congenital defect and
22:12that defect required substantial medical
22:14care and I needed good healthcare
22:16coverage and that also came with the
22:18package so I left
22:20Merck and I moved at the Louisville
22:23Kentucky I can't take you through all
22:25the four years and three months at this
22:28company I can't give you some snippets
22:31it's a fact and I urge you all at the
22:33end of it if you want to understand more
22:37to go to the archaeology of this
22:40industry and this company captured in 33
22:43million documents read what they think
22:47about children read what they think
22:50about self enrichment and see what I say
22:55is not corroborated over and over and
22:58over again join the company and if part
23:02of the first things I did was I was sent
23:04out to a law firm in Kansas City
23:07Missouri to go out and find and
23:09understand how litigation was a because
23:13I may have become a a witness and it was
23:17the first time in my career I ever had
23:19lawyers tell me how to think about
23:22science they told me that there was two
23:25fundamental tenants by which they
23:27survive litigation number one they never
23:31would acknowledge the relationship
23:32between smoking and health called the
23:34causal hypothesis the second they would
23:37never admit that nicotine is addictive
23:39even though they talked about it inside
23:41outside because then if it was addictive
23:45it would it would no longer be free
23:47choice I thought was strange that
23:49lawyers would tell me
23:50the science that I had read so much
23:52before and discuss during the interview
23:54process whoa
23:56well I went back the company and I all I
23:58want to do is make a safer cigarette
24:00take the carbon monoxide out take some
24:03nail polish remover out paint thinners
24:06and other poisons that come in it and so
24:10we assembled the scientists throughout
24:12this twenty five billion dollar company
24:14the heads of science and we gathered in
24:16British Columbia for four and a half
24:19days of meetings of how to go into the
24:21technology portfolio the pocket of the
24:24companies and pull out technology
24:26without risk that could be applied to
24:28reducing nicotine's addictiveness how to
24:31make a cigarette fire safe how to reduce
24:34a carbon monoxide how to use genetic
24:36engineering to change nicotine content
24:38how to deal with the issue of secondhand
24:40smoke and we spent four and a half days
24:43when we articulate the antithesis of my
24:46March meeting with the Lord we clearly
24:48understood in the company and a
24:50scientific community as well as the
24:51business community covered that nicotine
24:53was addictive we clearly understood that
24:57smoking caused emphysema cardiac
25:00vascular disease cancer and we had ways
25:05of doing it
25:05grabbing into a technology package and
25:08pulling it out and we articulated it in
25:11a memo after the meeting and 14 pages of
25:15memorandum that said we can do this we
25:19could do this and we could do this
25:20generally within less than 18 months we
25:25could take nicotine and take it and
25:26change it's addictive and depressive
25:28qualities that as it causes depression
25:31particularly in women we could take and
25:34make a cigarette that's fire safe that
25:37has didn't cause the loss of 1200 lives
25:39a year mostly children firefighters and
25:42non-smokers through careless cigarettes
25:45we could take genes of tobacco plant and
25:48change them by using contemporary
25:50molecular biology and genetic
25:52engineering techniques and we wrote it
25:54down
25:54we knew what make it thieves addictive
25:56and we knew that smoking created hazard
25:59well that's in business you circulate
26:01your memo I circulated the report of the
26:04meeting to my
26:04boss the CEO of the company and all I
26:09can characterizes his response was
26:11apoplectic I had created a document or
26:15participate in creating a document that
26:17could be used in a court of law that
26:20said the company clearly understood
26:22nicotine was addictive and it was
26:24manipulated that they targeted kids that
26:27could make for fire safe cigarettes they
26:29targeted women based on weight
26:31management etc and you could make a safe
26:35cigarette
26:37what happened next 25 years of corporate
26:40experience then prepare me for the
26:42president of the company ordered an
26:44attorney who was not present at the
26:47meeting to change the minutes of the
26:49meeting he took 14 pages of minutes and
26:52reduces the two and a half pages of
26:54vanilla and that became the permanent
26:58record to reflect the meeting Wow
27:02I never saw anything like that I never
27:04saw that in J&J I never saw that in
27:07Pfizer and the meeting Leon at a love
27:09that the CEO of be a tea industry so
27:13Patrick she never wanted to create the
27:17scientists already got and they created
27:19document that could be considered
27:21controversial or indicted in a court of
27:23law
27:24and we recall now to New York City in
27:27January of 1990 and we were told that
27:31lawyers would be putting every facet of
27:33scientific communication and research if
27:36a document that was generated it was
27:38controversial in terms of the health
27:40health issue it would be either
27:42destroyed sequestered overseas altered
27:47or never part of the permanent record
27:50communications between the scientists
27:52and other scientists was gonna be
27:54controlled by lawyers well I don't know
27:58what I was gonna do and I'm sitting here
28:00in January of 1990 now I'm a year-plus
28:04of the company I got a half a million
28:05dollar salary I got a house a family my
28:09safer cigarette project now is canceled
28:11its shipped overseas because now if you
28:14have something safer everything else is
28:16unsafe
28:18and it created tremendous amount of
28:20consternation the company against the
28:23product liability and I didn't know what
28:27to do with what I knew I couldn't go
28:30back to the pharmaceutical industry I
28:31wanted no part of being on any average
28:33several adversarial role which is the
28:36back of company because I learned how
28:38they treated defectives rather quickly I
28:40basically turned and looked the other
28:43way I didn't know what to do with I I
28:47knew and that responsibility and many
28:51trouble I got many times in conflict
28:53with mr. Sandford over the years when
28:56they exported genetically engineered
28:57tobacco seed to Brazil to grow tobacco
28:59down there by smuggling the seed out in
29:03a cigarette pack a violation of law or
29:07by forcing the scientists and the
29:09product developers to smoke tainted
29:11cigarettes or moving science to
29:13political legal issues it came down to
29:18August 1992 now I was having a tough
29:22time looking in the mirror I was also
29:24having a tough time explaining to my two
29:26girls who are going to private schools
29:29why the job I was doing was killing
29:32people in August of 1992 I received a
29:37copy of the draft report for the
29:39national toxicology program the guys to
29:44do is one of the additives that the
29:45company uses that it's tobacco something
29:48that's added to tobacco to ameliorate
29:50the harsha's of smoke and to facilitate
29:54the manipulation of nicotine the tobacco
29:58industry uses 599 chemical additives to
30:01tobacco coco licorice honey
30:05toilet bowl cleaner car antifreeze and
30:08etc one of these additives in 1984 was
30:14demonstrated clearly to be a hepato
30:16toxic agent in dogs that has destroyed
30:19the livers of dogs it also made sweet
30:23sweet smelling out of foul-smelling and
30:27mass foul odors as a result the Food and
30:30Drug Administration were in
30:32this additive from a list that's called
30:34grass generally recognized as safe and
30:38the tobacco industry removed from all
30:41its cigarettes this chemical compound in
30:441984 because of the health concern and
30:47because of the regulation they also at
30:50the same time required to disclose to
30:53the government on the law the others
30:56they use in cigarettes Brown &
30:59Williamson continue to use the additive
31:01even though it took it out of its Lucky
31:02Strike and its Viceroy and other
31:04cigarettes making pity to use it it is
31:08so walter royal aromatic pipe tobacco in
31:13August of 1992 this chemical compound
31:17called coumarin was found to be a lung
31:20specific course Inogen and laboratory
31:23mice and rats when tested but a national
31:25toxicology program I took this
31:28information to my boss mr. Sandifer who
31:32I had many run-ins with and told him was
31:35the duty of care and his responsibility
31:38to remove this chemical compound because
31:41now they had incremental information
31:42that put people at more in harm's way
31:46his response to me was go back to the
31:49laboratory and find a substitute they
31:51were not going to remove it because it
31:54would affect sales and profits he wasn't
31:57gonna take it out big and reduce risk at
32:01the expense of causing loss of money
32:03well that was sort of the Waterloo that
32:07was my last conversation with mr.
32:08Sandifer over duty responsibilities
32:10several months later he became the new
32:12CEO and he said merrily fired me
32:15in March of 1993 and actually quite I
32:20was quite relieved to be fired and I
32:22only really wanted one thing I wanted to
32:24forget four years and three months and
32:29go back to where I belong I want to go
32:31back to the pharmaceutical industry I
32:33wanted to go back to where I was not
32:35being challenged every day with doing
32:37things I felt uncomfortable with and had
32:39to look the other way in fact you must
32:43say my thing I most certainly lost
32:46my moral compass and all I wanted was my
32:52contract I one of my health care
32:53benefits for my one daughter I wanted
32:55two years my severance which was by
32:58contract and all I want to do is use it
33:00to get back to where it belongs the
33:02first thing the company said to me is
33:03they're not gonna honor their contract
33:05they're gonna reduce substantially
33:06reduced it I said well now your hell you
33:09aren't
33:10I'm gonna go get me a Kentucky lawyer
33:11I'm gonna sue you on the contract law
33:15well you know how that worked out
33:17I hear it already I couldn't get a
33:19Kentucky lawyer to come near me the suit
33:21at the backhoe company for my contractor
33:24in June of 1993 I worked out an
33:27agreement with the company I got two
33:28years severance and I got my healthcare
33:30benefits and I was a fat cat I was done
33:33so I thought September of 1993 they sue
33:38me ex parte in a Kentucky Court for
33:43violation of my confidentiality
33:44agreement and giving away trade secrets
33:47they alleged that I told somebody my
33:50salary and that constituted violation of
33:53my agreement they took my healthcare
33:54benefits away from me
33:56they took my salary away from me but
34:00they offered me in the other hand an
34:01opportunity to saying a more restrictive
34:03and more draconian type agreement than
34:07ever and rather than put my family in
34:10harm's way I signed the agreement which
34:12basically said I could never tell
34:13anybody about tobacco nothing that I
34:15ever learned who knew and I would always
34:17keep it secret but if I was challenged
34:20or asked by a law instrument of law I
34:22would have to tell them first they had a
34:24right to have an attorney present in a
34:27way one and so October of 1993 I'm again
34:32got a new agreement yet I protected my
34:36family and now things are starting to
34:39happen and things that's not happening
34:42change my understanding of what do you
34:44do with what you know
34:45in January of 1994 I was approached by a
34:49CBS correspondent by name Aloha burger
34:51and Lal had been the beneficiary or the
34:54recipients of anonymous documents sent
34:56to him by a mr. butts
34:59mr. butts was a conscious of one of the
35:01companies that pull the set of documents
35:03out that reflected the research efforts
35:06of the world's largest tobacco company
35:08it dealt with the issue how they could
35:10develop a product that didn't create a
35:13fire remember there are 1,200 lives lost
35:17each year in this country to
35:19recreational to fires created by
35:20cigarettes this company developed the
35:24fire safe cigarette in 1986 they called
35:29it Hamlet to bird or not to burn
35:35well I sat across from this company in a
35:39Congress directed law called the Moakley
35:42bill that said to the cup the tobacco
35:45industry could work collaboratively
35:46together develop a fire safe cigarette
35:48to address this loss of the human life
35:50and property and I sat down against this
35:54across from this company for the better
35:56part of three years in which each and
35:58every time they asserted that it was
36:01impossible to make a cigarette fire safe
36:05but that was a responsibility of the
36:07furniture makers and the rug makers and
36:09the bedding makers 1986 they had a fire
36:14safe cigarette that smoked like a
36:16Marlboro tasted like a Marlboro look
36:19like a Marlboro and had no incremental
36:21cost of a Marlboro and was fire safe and
36:26it boiled my blood it bothered me that
36:30they directly had an opportunity to
36:34change at least 12 or it lives anymore
36:36and then I started in a whole different
36:39pathway I needed to do something with my
36:42knowledge the US Congress was cranking
36:45up at the time and they were asking
36:48whether you FDA could have search
36:49jurisdiction over nicotine they're also
36:52now gonna bring in the seventh CEOs on a
36:55correctional subpoena and ask him is it
36:58nicotine addictive or not the smoking
37:01kill or not do you target minorities or
37:03not you target young women or not do you
37:07label your product correctly and in the
37:10process the Congress asked me if I
37:12help them understand tobacco science and
37:16how to ask the questions and could I
37:17testify I said most certainly I can help
37:20Congress but you need to give me an
37:22instrument of law and then
37:24communications back and forth between
37:26the Congress I may were daily and I had
37:30a duty under my contract I signed to
37:32tell the company I was contacted by
37:34Congress and so I told them and after I
37:38told them my children recipients the two
37:41separate independent death threats that
37:44said if I cooperate with anybody against
37:46the tobacco industry they would take it
37:47out of my children require the FBI to
37:50trap-and-trace my phones and he isolated
37:53the phone calls one came from a hospital
37:55Louisville the other came from a
37:57building adjacent from the Brown &
37:59Williamson Tower from that day forward I
38:01never told him what I was doing so when
38:04the seven CEOs in April got up in front
38:06of Congress and all raised their right
38:08hand and said that nicotine wasn't
38:10addictive and smoking was no more
38:13dangerous than Twinkies I realized that
38:15by my silence I was no different than
38:19the people on my screen and I chose to
38:21do some things different I started
38:23working covertly with the FDA I traveled
38:27back and forth under assumed names went
38:29through one marked entrances and help
38:31work through that jurisdictional
38:32document I talked about in the front I
38:34got involved in a ten billion dollar
38:36lawsuit between ABC News and Philip Mars
38:39over nicotine manipulation then I got
38:42the read in early 1995 documents that
38:46spanned 25 years that were leaked out of
38:49Brown & Williamson called the Merrill
38:51Williams documents where they talk about
38:53the deadwood files and targeting and
38:55many of the documents I asked to see
38:57when I was at the company I now see for
38:59the first time so I dogus v armed with
39:04this information I chose to set my moral
39:06compass straight I went to CBS 60
39:09minutes but I told them that I wanted to
39:12work out a way to bring this information
39:14forward to the public but I had to do it
39:17with some caveats I need to make sure
39:19that if it went sand if it went it went
39:20forward that I had some form of physical
39:22protection primarily for my children
39:25and second that I needed have a lawyer
39:27because I knew damn well now I was gonna
39:29need a good lawyer and they agreed to it
39:32this comes right on the tails of that
39:34ABC Philip Morris litigation of ten
39:37billion dollars ABC apologizes to Philip
39:42Mars concomitant
39:44with ABC being bought by Disney the
39:48first time First Amendment freedom of
39:50the press is now usurped by the tobacco
39:53industry CBS has this interview in the
39:56can
39:58they have validated it they've done the
40:01authenticity and they fact checked it
40:02and then several things are going on
40:04within CBS CBS now is being tended an
40:09offer by Westinghouse to buy the
40:10cooperation and there are significant
40:13economic gains to be gained by the
40:15management of CBS Lowe's Corporation
40:19Lorillard tobacco because one of the
40:22owners of CBS through Lowe's Corporation
40:25mr. Tisch and his brother well one of
40:29the seven invitees to the April 1994
40:32congressional testimony session and he
40:34was being investigated by the US
40:36Department of Justice for perjury I
40:39don't quite enough to make the diet the
40:42soup a little bit dicey er Brown &
40:44Williamson and Lorillard were conducting
40:48a hundred million dollar product
40:49transfer from B&W to Lorillard tobacco
40:53CBS dropped the interview on the threat
40:57of a fifteen billion dollar lawsuit
41:00based on a legal principle called
41:01tortious interference they tortured me
41:05for the truth no there's a legal
41:08principle that says that if you
41:09interfere your torturing users are
41:11tortious interference in terms of it
41:13disrupting a confidentiality agreement
41:15a CBS dropped the interview the
41:19acquisition went through unfettered with
41:21a threat and then fireworks started
41:25somebody within CBS leaked the interview
41:28to the New York media New York media
41:32printed the original story context and I
41:37was a Vivi suit again in Kentucky
41:39ex-parte it means they went to court
41:41without a legal represent and they took
41:44my First Amendment rights away with a
41:46restraining order and the fireworks
41:49thought I also now receive two on X
41:51Secret Service agents that provide 24/7
41:55they started taking my children to Girl
41:58Scouts to school to the store stopped my
42:02car in the morning open my mail go to
42:04the school I'm teaching at because now
42:07the threats against my physical and my
42:10family were routine I've also with
42:15subpoena in November 95 to go to
42:17Mississippi provide testimony to provide
42:21the same thing on the oat that I gave
42:22the CB s freely in August of 95 there
42:28again I face jail I went down I stated
42:32dick Scruggs home who was in my attorney
42:34with the Attorney General the number one
42:36law enforcement agent of Mississippi who
42:39was the first by the way to suit a
42:40tobacco industry to recoup the health
42:41care costs before I could stay at
42:43Vicki's home that night they had a
42:45screen the home for listening devices
42:47because many of the attorneys that were
42:49suing to tobacco industry now found that
42:51electronic eavesdropping was an active
42:53act in their offices at home judge's
42:56chambers were being bugged people were
42:59being followed and there were credible
43:02death threats against many of the people
43:03that were trying to bring the tobacco
43:05industry to the bar justice and
43:09therefore the property was patrol all
43:13night by our Mississippi State Troopers
43:15not a very warm welcome to the Gulf of
43:18Mexico next morning I did the federal
43:22deposition in the afternoon I was to go
43:25forward with the civil deposition this
43:28tell on the oath everything that I had
43:30told CBS freely and Brad Williams have
43:33went to the Mississippi Supreme Court
43:35and got the Mississippi Supreme Court to
43:37seal a document but not cancel it they
43:40went through the same judge again in
43:41Kentucky I got a contempt order which
43:45said if I were honored the subpoena in
43:48Mississippi
43:48I would violate the Kentucky or and
43:50therefore I would be incarcerated when I
43:52came
43:53back to Kentucky I learned this until I
43:55sat down the lunch with the Attorney
43:57General of Mississippi the attorneys
43:59people from the Department of Justice
44:01but if I was to go forward the afternoon
44:03when I went back to Kentucky they would
44:06throw me in jail and that scared the
44:08hell out of me I did not want to go to
44:12jail in Kentucky or any jail for telling
44:15the truth and for the credit of these
44:17men they gave me an opportunity to get
44:19out of it they said it's your decision
44:21and I spent half hour 45 minutes I can't
44:25remember wandering around on the lawn at
44:28Vicki Scruggs home trying to figure out
44:30what to do with what I knew what was my
44:33duty that should I exercise my duty now
44:36and fortunately I made the right
44:39decision because I realized I had
44:41already paid the price and no matter
44:43what happens I would never get the
44:46opportunity to go forward again if I
44:48didn't do it then I went forward and if
44:51you haven't read of Mississippi
44:52Mississippi deposition it's on my
44:54website and other printed you need to
44:59read it and understand what went on
45:00there I went back to flew back to
45:03Kentucky that night on a private plane
45:05and I was met by federal marshals and I
45:07was scored at home I did not go to jail
45:10I went back to teaching biology
45:11chemistry and Japanese and manual high
45:14school January 1996 rolls around the
45:19very deposition that was sealed in
45:20Mississippi makes its way to the bastion
45:22of business reporting the Wall Street
45:24Journal they're going to print the story
45:27from the deposition it's a very
45:31deposition and material that CBS 60
45:33minutes faulted on they get threatened
45:36by the tobacco company again should they
45:38print the story they would be sued and
45:41took a great credit of this DS
45:43journalist and the Wall Street Journal
45:45they published the complete deposition
45:47on that threat and it was out in January
45:521996 somebody managed evil we had two
45:56armed bodyguards to put a bullet in my
45:58mailbox and remind me again if I
46:02continue on the pathway I was going that
46:04they wouldn't take care of me they would
46:05take care of my two daughters
46:06no matter where they were February 1996
46:11CBS airs the original program of August
46:141995 after the threat for the lawsuits
46:19and the acquisition complete not what I
46:22would call a stellar performance in
46:24terms of exercising a free speech
46:26freedom of the press June 20 of the 1997
46:32rolls around 39 states including Indiana
46:35that sued the tobacco industry for
46:38reclaiming the health care costs that
46:39were amassed over decades and decades
46:41they had 368 billion dollars in
46:44settlement costs unfettered FDA
46:47regulation release of documents and
46:53restrictions on advertising to the youth
46:56and the last thing the Attorney
46:58General's asked is that the Brown &
47:01Williamson little tobacco industry drop
47:02their lawsuit against me and they
47:05refused to do it and to the great credit
47:08including Jeff Manto said who is your
47:09Attorney General at the time they in
47:11unison said that unless you dropped the
47:13lawsuit they would walk out and so on
47:15June 20th of 1997 I was free to speak my
47:19piece I share since then I've gone back
47:24I taught high school until Brown aways
47:26and made it so unbearable that I
47:28couldn't teach in Louisville anymore I
47:30was National Teacher of the Year in 1996
47:33they were subpoena my classroom records
47:35and reviewing him I decided in 1998 the
47:40leaf Louisville Kentucky and moved to
47:43Charleston South Carolina and I formed
47:46smoke-free kids with the belief that my
47:49corporate experience well as my
47:50education I could bring in the classroom
47:52setting particularly kids before they
47:55ever had their first experience with
47:56tobacco the ability to understand how
47:58they are manipulated that by smoking
48:01cigarettes doesn't make you thin girls
48:03and then if you stop smoking you're not
48:04going to get fat
48:05and that this is imagery and fighting
48:10the battle to make sure the states
48:11started using some of that 246 billion
48:14dollars that they received in the
48:16settlement the movie The Insider was not
48:19part of the equation
48:20in the beginning when everything was
48:23happening many of us that were involved
48:25worried about survival not success I can
48:29tell you my cart might my lawyer ron
48:31motley still has a bodyguard the
48:34Attorney General in Mississippi who got
48:36death threats they finally caught him
48:37four years later many of the people that
48:40were involved in changing this dynamic
48:43gave of themselves I don't know what I
48:45would have done if I wasn't teaching
48:47school and had the loyalty of 153 kids
48:51and the support of them well many of
48:54that's what I'm telling you is happening
48:55for they were the substance that allowed
48:58me to do what I did I have no regrets I
49:01would most certainly do it again I share
49:05this with you tonight in the context of
49:07what universe city means and how you
49:10whether you're a member of the community
49:13whether you remember the academic
49:15setting your students your teacher or
49:19lawyers or policemen how you can
49:22collectively work together with the
49:25young and the old to make this a better
49:27and more productive environment for your
49:30children and your children's children
49:32unless we change this dynamic by
49:36regulating this industry creating
49:39smoke-free environments raising the
49:41price offering cessation to people who
49:44become addicted they have no choice but
49:49the addiction to deal with the
49:50depression to facilitate it we will be
49:53strapped with this 90 billion dollar
49:55cost the loss of hundred forty billion
49:58dollars in productivity you personally
50:01will continue playing your part of
50:03Medicaid or Medicare in terms of the 1.2
50:07billion so I go back to the original we
50:11need to make sure that we keep the
50:12settlement monies used it's 35 plus
50:16million dollars a year that comes out of
50:19the some 12 billion dollars of state
50:22will receive we need to continue to make
50:25our politicians aware that they were
50:27elected with a duty for the future but
50:30is that they need to support continued
50:32use of it as well as asking the Congress
50:34to regulate this product we need to give
50:37our kids an opportunity to understand
50:39how they're gonna be duped and
50:40manipulate before they get hooked
50:42Indiana has a large issue associated
50:44with tobacco use it takes lives it's the
50:50fifth highest in the United States in
50:52terms of lives lost associated with
50:54tobacco disease it's your community it's
50:59your opportunity to do the right thing
51:01I'm gonna stop there and just give you a
51:03little cup a little time to see two and
51:06a half minutes of the flick I want to
51:08tell you a little bit about that and
51:09then we can try some questions and
51:10answers thanks for being patient thank
51:13you for keeping going let's try it and
51:15then let's give you a chance to catch up
51:17a little bit
51:25down
51:32anymore
51:39serious about now
51:53[Music]
52:04that's right cigarettes are bad
52:12they have no right to hide behind a
52:14corporate agreement he can talk we can
52:16air it the worst kind of an organized
52:18smear campaign against the whistle
52:20blower shoplifting failing to pay child
52:23support they can paint everything with
52:25that brush what are you gonna do about
52:27finesse me lawyer me somewhere
52:30Travis two of us if you aired this
52:33segment I was at old don't talk my my
52:36own business make it a grand press we're
52:38doing this with or without you Lord are
52:40you a businessman or are you a news man
52:44he's only the key witness because he is
52:53telling the truth and the more truth he
52:55tells the worse it gets you manipulated
52:59me into this I fought for you and I
53:01still fight the American public need to
53:04know Deborah and you wish you hadn't
53:07come for doctor wagons deposition will
53:09be you wish to run bomb whistling I told
53:14the truth it's valid and true and to
53:17meet people that's not the point what do
53:18you tell the truth or not I said in the
53:24beginning we didn't think that was gonna
53:26happen I mean I have to say there are
53:29many dark moments and this convocation
53:32comes with sort of icing on the cake it
53:36comes at the cost of a lot of people I
53:39ask you to leave here tonight and think
53:42if I robbed you of your savings by
53:47misrepresenting your stock investment
53:51portfolio what would you want to do if I
53:54rob you of your children's health or
53:57your health by lying to you what should
54:01you do
54:02and what's the proportionality we want
54:05to regulate Enron's and accountants
54:09unethical immoral behavior yet we have
54:13failed to recognize that this industry
54:16hoists upon us a burden of health loss
54:22disease that attacks the weak thank you
54:29[Applause]

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of Jeffrey Wigand lecture "Smoke screen: courtship of our children", 2002-09-23 by Ball State University Libraries, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 7,834 words across 1,153 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.