Pubdate: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 Source: Toronto Star (Canada) Contact: http://www.thestar.com/ Author: Sandro Contenta, Montreal Bureau Section: A26 IMPERIAL DESTROYED TOBACCO-CANCER REPORTS But Company Says Originals Still Exist In Britain MONTREAL - Imperial Tobacco Ltd. has acknowledged it destroyed copies of scientific studies that looked at possible links between smoking and cancer. Imperial spokesperson Michel Descôteaux yesterday confirmed that, in 1992, Imperial destroyed copies of 60 documents, at least 22 of which were scientific studies commissioned by its parent company on the possible links between cancer and smoking. The studies were conducted between '67 and '78 and all traces of them in Canada were wiped out by Montreal-based Imperial. "Why did we get rid of them? Simply because we didn't need them any more," Descôteaux said, adding he did not know what the studies had concluded. "All we did was destroy copies of documents (in Canada) where the original continues to exist elsewhere in the world," he said, noting the originals are held by its British-based parent, BAT Industries PLC. Descôteaux said Imperial never made the studies public because "we had no legal obligation to make them public." Groups pushing for tough controls on tobacco charge that the studies found direct links between smoking and cancer. They contend that means Imperial had a legal duty to inform Canadians. MICE RESEARCH "People who are dying from tobacco-related diseases today were prevented from having this information" when the studies were conducted 25 years ago, said Garfield Mahood, executive director of the Non-Smokers' Rights Association. Eric LeGresley, association staff counsel, noted: "The documents that were destroyed suggest that cigarette products were causing various cancers and tumours in mice." One study, among those excised in Canada but made public by a U.S. congressional committee in '94, states "these data definitely suggest that inhaling tobacco smoke in hamsters enhances the development of precancerous and cancerous lesions in the larynx..." Mahood, who called for a royal commission on the issue, questioned whether Imperial wiped out documents here to prevent their use in court challenges that may arise in Canada. In the United States, BAT lawyers have tried to block all attempts to get documents from Britain, said Tom Sobol, counsel for the state of Massachusetts in its $2 billion (U.S.) claim against tobacco companies. While preparing to go to trial, Sobol's legal team got BAT to release two letter that revealed Imperial's document destruction. The letters were made public in Montreal yesterday. The letters, by Imperial lawyer Simon Potter, list all the documents to be destroyed. They are addressed to BAT's lawyers in England and to Brown & Williamson, a U.S. tobacco maker controlled by BAT. LeGresley compared destruction of the documents to a lawyer throwing away a client's smoking gun. Potter called that charge "ridiculous," adding his letter to BAT was to make sure the company kept the originals on hand in case they were needed. He noted in an interview companies may have a legal duty to reveal a study "if it has to do with something novel about a risk that nobody knows about." Imperial officials argue that the health risks of smoking have been public for the past 30 years. Last spring, Mahood released U.S. court documents showing that chemicals used to spike cigarettes were discussed at meetings between '86 and '90 that involved senior officials of Imasco, which controls Imperial, and executives of Imasco's controlling shareholder, BAT Industries PLC. In the United States, allegations of nicotine manipulation and companies' failure to warn consumers about the risks of smoking have led to court cases in which tobacco firms are accused of fraud, perjury, conspiracy and deceptive business practices. The court cases do not target Imasco. - --- Checked-by: Patrick Henry