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Former Head of Tobacco-Funded Indoor Air Research Org. Confronted in Racketeering Trial [11/09-3]

The former head of a tobacco-funded indoor air research organization was confronted with allegations that the group concealed its connection to cigarette makers, as he testified in the government's $280 billion conspiracy suit against the industry on Monday.

Under questioning from a government lawyer and the judge hearing the case, the director of the now-defunct Center for Indoor Air Research (CIAR) tried to explain documents in which the tobacco industry's control was downplayed or omitted.

CIAR Director Max Eisenberg was asked why research applications sent out to scientists gave scant mention of the tobacco industry, and why the names listed on CIAR's board gave no indication of the cigarette makers they worked for.

"Don't you think it was sort of strange?" asked U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler.

Eisenberg said it was "a given" that CIAR's directors worked for the industry. "I thought it was very clear" Eisenberg said. "It was very common knowledge."

In pre-written testimony, he had said the tobacco industry's role in the organization was "prominently disclosed."

CIAR was founded in 1988 by Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds and Lorillard and dissolved 11 years later under the terms of a landmark anti-smoking settlement with state attorneys general.

Eisenberg denied that CIAR was a front for cigarette makers and used to deceive the public about the dangers of secondhand smoke.

Eisenberg said CIAR was just trying find out the truth about whether secondhand smoke was a health problem.

The government's suit, launched in 1999, targets Altria Group Inc. and its Philip Morris USA unit; Loews Corp.'s Lorillard Tobacco unit, which has a tracking stock, Carolina Group ; Vector Group Ltd.'s Liggett Group; Reynolds American Inc.'s R.J. Reynolds Tobacco unit and British American Tobacco Plc unit British American Tobacco Investments Ltd.

The government charges cigarette makers lied and tried to confuse the public about the dangers of smoking as part of a 50-year industry conspiracy.

The U.S. Surgeon General concluded in 1986 that secondhand smoke causes lung cancer and other diseases in non-smokers. However, all major cigarette makers continued to argue through the 1990s that there was no proof to back up that position.

CIAR's board of directors was made up entirely of executives from the major tobacco companies, with authority to decide what research the organization funded and didn't fund.

Eisenberg said he could not explain why he was quoted in a 1990 newsletter listing tobacco companies as only one of many sources of funding for CIAR.