sample="rhetorical" bates="2501063452" isource="pm" decade="1990" class="ue" date="19940413" AP APR 13 '94 11:36AM Mr. W.H. WEBB P1. P3/4 NEWS RELEASE Corporate Affairs 120 Park Avenue New York, New York 10017 (212) 880-5000 FAX (212) 907-5361 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 13, 1994 CONTACT: Victor Han (202) 637-1566 SIX MAJOR AMERICAN CIGARETTE COMPANIES RELEASE COMBINED INGREDIENTS LIST New York -- Philip Morris U.S.A., along with the five other major American cigarette manufacturers, today approved the release of the industry's combined list of ingredients added to tobacco in cigarettes manufactured and sold in the United States. "The industry's decision to make this proprietary information publicly available to our consumers is in response to misleading allegations recently made about the nature of the ingredients used in our products," said Steven Parrish, senior vice president and general counsel for Philip Morris U.S.A. He said the six major American cigarette manufacturers decided to voluntarily disclose the combined ingredients list to "demonstrate to our consumers that cigarette ingredients are similar to ingredients used in a wide variety of consumer products and are not harmful to smokers." Parrish said that Philip Morris and the other five companies had been submitting a list of ingredients added to tobacco used in cigarettes manufactured and sold in the United States to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as required by the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act each year since 1986. The Act recognizes that cigarette ingredients are trade secrets and requires that HHS maintain strict confidentiality. "Unfortunately," Parrish said, "the confidentiality that Congress mandated for cigarette ingredients information has been mischaracterized as an attempt by cigarette manufacturers to be 'secretive' and keep information from the American public." In addition to releasing the ingredients list, the companies made available a copy of a March 1994 report, "A Saftey Assessment of Ingredients Added to Tobacco in the Manufacture of Cigarettes." Parrish said the independent assessment, performed by six eminent scientists, has been conducted on the entire list of cigarette ingredients provided to HHS by the six major American cigarette manufacturers. The authors concluded that "the ingredients added to tobacco in the manufacture of cigarettes by United States manufacturers are not hazardous under the conditions of use." According to Parrish, all of the ingredients added to tobacco used in cigarettes manufactured and sold in the United States by Philip Morris are common foods or food additives, and are included on the Food and Drug Administration's lists of approved food additives on substances "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS), are on the Flavor Extract Manufacturers Association's GRAS list, or have been approved by federal agencies such as the Bureau of Tobacco, Alcohol and Firearms or the Environmental Protection Agency. xxx