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Excerpts from Veteran tobacco man testifies for cigarette companies

By TRACY FIELDS, Associated Press [03/01/99]

A veteran tobacco man testified Monday that while it's theoretically possible to manipulate nicotine levels in cigarettes, it would be impractical, he's never done it and knows no one who has.

Brad Scott, director of leaf procurement at Philip Morris Inc., was the first witness for the tobacco companies fighting a class-action lawsuit by Florida smokers. The plaintiffs officially rested Monday.

"Theoretically you can produce a blend with more nicotine in it than another blend," he later added.

But Philip Morris, which buys about half the tobacco grown in this country, wouldn't do that, he said.

Jurors, who were last in court Feb. 9, watched attentively. While they were off, attorneys argued over thousands of tobacco industry documents that the plaintiffs' lawyers, Susan and Stanley Rosenblatt, want admitted into evidence.

That process is still incomplete and will continue outside proceedings involving the jury.

The plaintiffs, an estimated half-million Floridians who say they were misled about the smoking habit that made them sick, are seeking at least $200 billion damages.

Among their contentions is that tobacco companies manipulated nicotine levels to make cigarettes more addicting. But Stanley Rosenblatt's questioning didn't elicit much testimony Monday to support that.

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