Jeffrey S. Wigand

This article is part of the Tobacco portal on Sourcewatch funded from 2006 - 2009 by the American Legacy Foundation.

Jeffrey S. Wigand, Ph.D. was a Brown & Williamson Tobacco Company Vice President of Research & Development circa 1986, who became an anti-tobacco witness in cases against the industry.

In 1995, Dr. Wigand rose to national prominence when he became the highest ranking former tobacco industry executive to honestly address the industry's disregard for human health and safety. During an interview with the television news program "60 Minutes" broadcast on Feburary 4, 1996, Dr. Wigand disclosed that Brown & Williamson manipulates and adjusts the "nicotine fix" cigarettes give, not by artificially adding nicotine, but by enhancing the effect of the nicotine through use of chemical additives like ammonia, in a process known inside the tobacco industry as "impact boosting."

Dr. Wigand endured threats to his career and family as a result of his disclosures.

Brown & Williamson sued Dr. Wigand for his public discussions about the industry's efforts to minimize the health and safety issue of tobacco use. The lawsuit was dismissed as a condition of the June 20, 1997 historic settlement agreement between the Attorneys General of 40 States and the tobacco industry.

Dr. Wigand and his story became the subject of a November, 1999 big-screen movie titled, "The Insider."

(Partial Source: Brown & Williamson's Initial Disclosure, State of Texas vs. ATC, et al., 6/5/96)

Biography

Jeffrey S. Wigand has knowledge regarding the addictiveness and health hazards of cigarettes, how nicotine is manipulated in the manufacturing process, the development of safer cigarettes, the cigarette manufacturing process, and the acts of Brown & Williamson officers to conceal information. Wigand also has knowledge of witness intimidation by the tobacco industry's and suppression of research and development of safer tobacco products. In order to contact Jeffrey S. Wigand call Richard "Dicky" Scruggs of Scruggs, Millette, Lawson, Bozeman and Dent, P.A., 735 Delmas Ave., Pascagoula, MS 39568-1425. Phone (601) 359-3680 or (601) 762-6068 and Fax: (601) 762-1207. Dr. Wigand is an Endocrinologist and Biochemist who was Vice President for Research and Development and Environmental for Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp.

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