From: anne@tobaccodocuments.org
Date: Mon, 03/05/07
Anne LandmanFDA Regulation Legislative Strategy Development in Anticipation of A
U.S. Supreme Court Decision
Company/Source: Philip Morris
Date: 22 Oct 1999
Length: 5 pages
Bates No. 2073258340-2073258344
URL of this Posting: http://tobaccodocuments.org/landman/2073258340-8344.html
Document Images:
This October 22, 1999 memo by John F. Scruggs (Vice President of Federal
Government Affairs at Philip Morris Management Corporation) and John Hoel
(Director of Federal Tobacco Issues at PM Management Corporation) shows PM's
strategic preparations for both win and lose scenarios resulting from the
Supreme Court's 1999 ruling on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) can regulate tobacco. It lays out PM's objective of developing an
alternative FDA legislative strategy and discusses the inclusion of elements
from PM's "Must Have" and "Must Not Have" list (a version of which, a "Should
and Should Not Have" list for FDA regulations can be seen at
http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/kxb22c00).
From its Should/Should Not Have list it appears that PM seeks FDA regulations
that:
1) do not interfere with tobacco marketing or promotions;
2) enshrine in federal law the tenets of the Master Settlement Agreement, an
already-existing and mostly unenforced voluntary agreement drawn up largely by
PM to get out from under multiple state lawsuits in 1997-98;
3) reinforce the public perception that smoking is a youth problem, not a
societal problem;
4) Place the burden of informing the public about the hazards of smoking onto
the FDA, thus removing substantial liability from the tobacco companies;
5) officially sanction the current toxicity level of cigarettes;
6) Force FDA to put its resources into manipulating cigarette ingredients and
designing safer cigarettes, instead of allowing FDA the unfettered freedom to
consider and implement a far wider range of innovations to reduce morbidity and
mortality from smoking;
7) Force FDA to place a high priority on the economic impact of tobacco, rather
than making public health its highest concern regarding its actions dealing with
tobacco,
8) Prevent FDA from requiring that cigarettes be made less appealing to smokers
in any way;
9) Gives the industry a way to escape a regulation by claiming it causes or
exacerbates a black market in tobacco (which history shows that tobacco
companies create and stimulate at will to defeat legislation they don't like,
like taxes)
10) Preserve the industry's freedom to manufacture and export domestic
cigarettes to the extent they wish;
11) Help slow the decline in domestic farm production of tobacco plants.
PM's strategy in the lead up to the Supreme Court Decision consisted of
developing two teams: one that would work on a plan to be pursued if the court
ruled in the industry's favor, and the other to develop a scheme to pursue if
the court ruled against the industry. The court eventually ruled in the
industry's favor, concluding that only Congress could delegate the authority to
FDA to regulate cigarettes.
The Scruggs-Hoel memo and PM's Should Have/Should Not Have list together
describe the beginning of PM's FDA Regulatory Strategy Project to drive the
enactment of FDA regulations favorable to the company. The scenario is being
played out today as the U.S. House and Senate both consider simultaneous bills
(S. 625 and H.R. 1108) that largely deliver to PM it core principles.
---------------------------------------------------
Fields
Author
Hoel, John (Philip Morris Washington Relations Office, c. 1997-9)
Dir., Federal Tobacco Issues, PM Mgmt. Corp. in 1990s
Scruggs, John F. (PM Mgmt Corp. Federal Government Affairs Office)
VP Federal Government Affairs (Tobacco) PM Management Corp.cc. 2/2000,
Alexandria, Virginia (2085318084-Fax letterhead 2001)
Recipient
Liebengood, Howard S. (PM vice President of Gov't Affairs, c. 1997)
Former TI Executive Vice President (per letterhead at PM 282110894)
Parrish, Steven C. (PM, Sr. VP, General Counsel)
Partner of industry law firm Shook Hardy and Bacon before going to work for
PM. Was VP of PM Corporate Scientific Affairs in 1990. Defends PM on television.
Wall, Charles R. (VP & Assoc. Gen. Counsel for PM, c. 1994)
Vice President and Associate General Counsel for Philip Morris 1994-94 (may
have been longer; this info was gleaned from documents); formerly worked for
Shook, Hardy and Bacon.
Named Persons
Berlind, Mark (PM Worldwide Regulatory Affairs, Ass't General Counsel)
Philip Morris
Castellano, A.
Desel
Han, Victor (Dir. of Communcations, PM Worldwide Reg. Affairs)
Director of Communcations for Philip Morris Worldwide Regulatory Affairs
office circa 1993-95. Directed strategy and implementation of internal and
external communications. Also worked for PM Corporate Affairs. Vigorously
defends company's sale of tobacco products but refuses to smoke around his two
young daughters saying "Certainly I don't want my kids to smoke. As a parent I
want to take as many risks out of their lives as I possibly can." (Washington
Post National Weekly Edition, January 13, 1997, pg. 9)
Harris, P.
Hoel, John (Philip Morris Washington Relations Office, c. 1997-9)
Dir., Federal Tobacco Issues, PM Mgmt. Corp. in 1990s
Holleran, Jack (PMMC Legal Department c. 1998)
Philip Morris Management Corporation Legal Department 1998, PM USA Legal 2001
Nicoli, David P. (PM Washington Relations Office, c. 1992-94)
PM Legislative Council, 1992. PM Washington Relations Office, 1994.
Pfeil, Mike (Section Sales Mgr, PM)
Slaiman, G.
Named Organization
4th Circuit Court Appeals
Bergner Bockorny
Black Kelly
Burson Marsteller (Tobacco industry PR firm)
Tobacco Industry public relations firm.
Bozell Worldwide (Marketing Analyst in New York)
Congress
United States Food and Drug Administration
House
Philip Morris
Philip Morris Team
Pmusa, Philip Morris Usa
Senate
Swindler Berlin
Team 1
Team 2
US Supreme Court
Litigation
Feda/Produced
Type
MEMO, MEMORANDUM
AGEN, AGENDA
REPT, REPORT, OTHER
Subject
FDA jurisdiction over tobacco
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Thanks to Laurie Comstock of Sacramento, California, for finding and forwarding
PM's "Should/Should Not Have" list for FDA regulations.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Anne Landman
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