Information Intersciences

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This stub is a work-in-progress by the ScienceCorruption.com journalists's group. We are indexing the millions of documents stored at the San Francisco Uni's Legacy Tobacco Archive [1] With some entries you'll need to go to this site and type into the Search panel a (multi-digit) Bates number. You can search on names for other documents also.     Send any corrections or additions to editor@sciencecorruption.com

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

Information Intersciences Inc. (also called "3i") was one of the early on-line information retrieval companies (before the internet). It is listed as working with the tobacco industry as a feed source to their literature database, LS Inc. which had been split off (and incorporated) from the Council for Tobacco Research (CTR). This database operation needed to be paid through the CTR (which was the successor to the TIRC ), but not in the normal way. They did it through the tobacco industry's secret Special Account #4 which was handled by the Ad Hoc Committee of company lawyers.

This was to ensure that the database operation remained isolated from discovery and considered to be only part of the lawyer's arsenal -- and could therefore not be used as evidence of what the companies knew. This meant that their documents were "Subject to Claims of Privilege and Confidentiality:" -- their production could not generally be forced in court cases, nor revealed at Congressional or local ordinance hearings.

Of course the purpose of maintaining such a database was to keep the tobacco companies aware of all current aspects of science, medicine, or political activities, which might prove to be adverse to their interests. These were not primarily legal documents, but business information. This whole process was a ploy to hide from the courts, politicians and public opinion what the tobacco executives and their subordinates knew at any one time.

Documents & Timeline

1969 June 4 The Minutes of the Committee of Counsel (Lawyers servicing the tobacco companies + top legal executives). This regular meeting is to allow the companies to share knowledge, coordinate activites and joinly run programs (CTR, etc) without being charged with conspiracy. The lawyers in attendance are

Arnold & Porter -- Abe Krash, Jerome I Chapman, ? Schneiderman
Covington & Burling -- Tommie Austern, T Oghol
Phillip Morris -- Shepard P Pollack, Paul D Smith
American Tobacco Co - Cyril F Hetsko
RJ Reynolds -- Henry Ramm
B&W/BAT -- H DeBaun Bryant, Addison Yeamans,
Shook Hardy & Bacon -- Bill Shinn
Tobacco Institute -- William Kloepfer, ex-Senator Earle Clements
Liggett & Myers -- Frederick P Haas
Lorrilard -- Arthur J Stevens

1. First item discussed by Abe Krash is the FCC's rule-making plans to kick cigarette advertising off the TV.

  • RJ Reynolds has been served with 3 subpoenas (re:) the development of advertising themes.
  • Clements says he understands that Harley O Staggers (D-WV) has written a letter to both the FTC and FCC to hold up action until the Congressional proceedings are completed.

2. Kurt Enslein has a proposed a project to analyse the Doll data. Henry Ramm handed out a memo entitled "Proposal for Analysis of Doll Data"

Richard S Doll was the famed British scientist who identified the link between smoking and ill-health with satistician Austin Bradford Hill. They were planning to get access to his original data and have computer scientist Enslein 'mine' it for defects (real, or imagined).

3. Tommie Austern [C&B] reported on:

  • Chemsol development (A tobacco modification claimed to reduce the carcinogenicity of smoke.)
  • FTC trade regulation and rules
  • 3i information retrieval.

4. Bill Shinn [SH&B] reported on Theodor D Sterling's air pollution project. They had previously assumed the cost would be $3,000, whereas it will now be about $10,000. Approved. (It may have a bearing on the Hammond data).

5. Paul Smith (PM) reported that:

"Rune Cederlof who testified at the Commerce Committee hearings here also testified in Canada where he did an excellent job. He will read a paper in Rome in September on his twin studies that indicates that mortality of smoking and non-smoking identical twins does not show any correlation related to smoking.
The Karolinska Institute of Stockolm Sweden with which he is affiliated intends to have a symposium in Virgin Islands (Henry] Ramm says that the CTR turned down a request on this."

[The SAB had rejected Lars Friberg's $20,000 proposal (temporarily) -- Friberg and Cederlof worked together and Cederlof would give airing to their views there. Carl Seltzer (of Harvard) also favoured this project and Shinn recommended it.

Addison Yeamans and Bill Kloepfer point out that the Karolinska Institute is a highly prestige organisation that also has financial support from Swedish government. So they approved funding of $20,000. [They turned this into a Special Project #4 grant]

6. Leonard Zahn (science/media lobbyist) has made a request ...

... in connection with possible employment or retainer of him by CTR. Zahn says he thinks it would be prefereable for him to be 'retained' rather than 'employed' by CTR (He could get other clients). He says he has excellent relations with the science writers and has good contacts inside and outside of government. [He received a two-year contract at $4,000 a month + travel, entertainment.]
MUCH MORE HERE . [2]

1970 Nov 15 Information Interscience "Current Awareness Bulletin"

1971 Feb 28 The audit for the CTR's secret Special Account #4 (six months only) shows: Disbursements :-
Consultants' Fees and Expenses :-

Auditing ...................$ 225.00 ........... $17,257.29
Cash in Bank - Feb 28 1971 ........ $54,674.64
[Note: there was also a $500 reimbursement to the Canadian Tobacco Industry for a sum advanced to Dr Rene Cederlof [3]
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