The tobacco industry still needs to be to be taken to task forthe damage they've done to people's health, a former Phillip Morrisresearcher said.
Phillip DeNoble, who is known as the whistle-blower of thetobacco companies, talked to students Thursday night about thecompanies.
The process has not been easy for Phillip DeNoble, but he talksto thousands of students a year about his experiences with theindustry.
"This is not an anti-smoking speech," he said. "This is a speechabout corporate responsibility. I do these programs because sometime in the near future, you guys are going to have to make sometough decisions, and it's not going to be easy."
DeNoble and his experiences at the Phillip Morris were the basisof the 1999 movie "The Insider," and he has testified in casesbrought against the tobacco industry.
DeNoble began working for the tobacco company in 1980, in thedays when smoking was still allowed on the congressional floor.
DeNoble was under the impression that he would make a differencein the industry, but he quickly learned that health concerns werethe least of tobacco industry executive's concerns, he said. Heconducted numerous tests showing the adverse effects nicotine hason humans' brains and hearts.
Phillip Morris finally decided to forego any progress inmarketing a nicotine-free cigarette despite the fact that DeNoblehad found an alternative, saying they couldn't go back on years ofpromising their product was safe.
Soon after, Phillip Morris let DeNoble go. He said that wastheir mistake. Since his departure from the company, DeNoble hascontinued to work against the tobacco industry.
In the time since he testified before Congress in January 1994,$710 billion has been collected from the tobacco industry, and 30percent of bars and restaurants have become smoke-free, hesaid.
He helped win a case in Louisiana last year, which resulted intobacco companies being forced to pay for patients sick withsmoking-related diseases and he is set to testify again in Decemberin another case.
DeNoble has made progress in holding what he said is the mostpowerful industry in the world accountable for their actions. Notmany are willing to go up against a product that is unregulatedlike tobacco is, but DeNoble refuses to relent, he said. Tobaccoindustry executives know that he can hurt them.
Thomas Osdene, a Phillip Morris executive, knew DeNoble'scapabilities from the time he started, DeNoble said.
"I fear the day we hired DeNoble. We sealed the industry'sfate," Osdene wrote in a letter that the FBI has.
Despite threats made against him by tobacco companies, DeNoblesaid he would continue to inform people about the way the tobaccocompanies operate.
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