Smokescreen: The Truth Behind the Tobacco Industry Cover-Up
by By Hilts, Philip J.
Category: Business & Economics , Economic History

From National Book Award nominee Philip Hilts, the New York Times reporter who first broke the story of the now-infamous Brown and Williamson tobacco papers, comes a full expose of the tobacco industry's forty-year war on the health of every American.Smokescreen cuts right to the heart of what has enraged the American public. It contains: A detailed picture of how one company markets cigarettes to children as young as twelve years old, along with the surveys it uses with these youngsters to determine what they want. Also included is material never before published on R. J. Reynolds' marketing to what they euphemistically call "young adults." Fresh documents not found in any other book - including the deposition of Brown and Williamson (B&W) researcher Jeffrey Wigand, the statements of the three Philip Morris executives who recently broke ranks, and details from inside the ABC-Philip Morris lawsuit that have not been published anywhere else. The first inside picture of what is going on at the Food and Drug Administration, which is planning to regulate cigarettes as a drug for the first time. An inside look at politics in Washington and why Congress has voted with tobacco interests year after year, including dollar figures on how much money key Congressmen take from them. A chapter on the fakery used to make modern cigarettes (only about half of a modern cigarette is tobacco leaf; the rest includes everything from scraps off the floor to ammonia). A profile of the most important whistle-blower, Merrell Williams, with new material never before published about his life and his motives in taking the B&W papers. Exclusive material on the RJR "safe" cigarette that is ready to be launched, and how that cigarette was developed.