Tobacco Company Challenges Nicotine Charge

Philip Morris USA accused Rep. Henry Waxman of “misleading the American people” in charging on the House of Representatives floor Monday that the company manipulated nicotine levels in its cigarettes.

In his remarks Monday, Waxman said company documents relating to varying ratios of tar and nicotine in certain Philip Morris brands suggest that the company sought to maintain the level of nicotine that smokers could get as levels of tar were falling.

Company officials said Tuesday that they did not know why the nicotine-to-tar ratios had changed. In any event, they said, the most important issue is that the amounts of nicotine in cigarettes has been dropping.