Wigand Testifies Tobacco Firm Hid Findings

Whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand testified that cigarette maker Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. systematically altered and destroyed any internal document during the early 1990s that contradicted the industry’s public “mantra” that cigarettes had not been proved to cause cancer. The testimony in a Brooklyn federal court came in a high-stakes civil case matching a trust for sick asbestos workers and their heirs against B&W;, a unit of British American Tobacco and other tobacco giants. The trust filed suit three years ago, alleging that the tobacco industry engaged in a conspiracy to hide and distort findings that asbestos workers who smoked were five times more likely to get lung disease than the average smoker. Wigand testified that B&W; researchers agreed that there was a “lethal synergy” between tobacco and asbestos, but were muzzled by the company. The defense sought to portray Wigand as a disgruntled opportunist who cashed in as a consultant for anti-tobacco attorneys after he was fired in 1993. Industry opponents say the case could result in damages exceeding $3 billion.