dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

Hmmm…

"Wallace was played by actor Christopher Plummer in the 1999 feature film, The Insider. The screenplay was based on the Vanity Fair article, 'The Man Who Knew Too Much' by Marie Brenner, which was about Wallace caving in to corporate pressure to kill a story about Jeffrey Wigand, a whistle-blower trying to expose Brown & Williamson's dangerous business practices."

"[Jeffrey] Wigand became nationally known as a whistleblower on February 4, 1996, when he appeared on the CBS news program 60 Minutes and stated that Brown & Williamson had intentionally manipulated its tobacco blend with chemicals such as ammonia to increase the effect of nicotine in cigarette smoke.[2] Wigand claimed that he was subsequently harassed and received anonymous death threats. Wigand discussed the death threats in an interview."

More about Wigand:

"A crucial and historic battle in the war between the tobacco industry and smokers began with Jeffrey Wigand, a doctor of biochemistry with a career focus on health issues who became the Vice President of Research & Development at Brown & Williamson in 1989. He was hired to research safer means of delivering nicotine by reducing the harm of other tobacco compounds.[13] At the time, both the addictiveness of nicotine and the health hazards of cigarettes were well known by the company and the industry, but kept a fiercely guarded secret. Wigand soon found his research and recommendations discouraged, ignored and censored, leading to confrontations with the CEO, Thomas Sandefur. Thwarted and frustrated, Wigand turned his attention to improving tobacco additives, some of which were designed for 'impact boosting', using chemicals like ammonia to enhance absorption of nicotine in the lungs and affect the brain and central nervous system faster. Wigand believed this process was a deliberate attempt to increase addiction to cigarettes.

Wigand's disagreements with Sandefur reached a breaking point over a flavor enhancer called coumarin, which he believed to be a lung-specific carcinogen that the company continued to use in pipe tobacco. Wigand demanded its removal, but a successful substitute had not been found and Sandefur refused on the grounds that sales would drop. This argument led Sandefur to fire Wigand in 1993 and to force him to sign an extended confidentiality agreement forbidding him to speak of anything related to his work or the company. The penalty for violating confidentiality was loss of his severance pay, potential lawsuit, and loss of medical coverage. At the time, his daughter suffered from a chronic illness, which required continuous medical attention.

Soon after this incident, the seven executives of 'Big Tobacco' testified during congressional hearings that they believed 'nicotine is not addictive'. "

"Despite Jeffrey Wigand's commitment to honor the confidentiality agreement and his initial refusal to talk to Lowell Bergman, a producer for 60 Minutes, Wigand claimed that he and his family were anonymously stalked, intimidated and threatened with death should he talk. At the time, it was thought that Brown & Williamson were behind these intimidation attempts, but, just before the movie The Insider was released, the FBI published a search warrant that was served on Wigand's home, strongly suggesting he fabricated the threats against himself.[15] Bergman provided him with armed bodyguards and, after legal consultation, urged him to testify for the State of Mississippi in a lawsuit against Big Tobacco brought by Mississippi Attorney General Mike Moore, a tactic designed to nullify his confidentiality agreement before revealing the truth in an interview with Mike Wallace for 60 Minutes. The tobacco interests responded by getting a Kentucky judge to issue a gag order that subjected Wigand to arrest upon returning to the Commonwealth.

Wigand's best hope remained in Bergman's pledge to air his story on 60 Minutes. Brown & Williamson threatened CBS with a lawsuit for tortious interference, which could spoil an imminent merger plan with Westinghouse. Instead of the original interview, CBS aired an edited version which did not disclose the crucial details. Bergman bitterly opposed the breaking of his word to Wigand, which eventually led to his resignation from 60 Minutes in 1998.

Brown & Williamson still tried to sue Wigand for theft, fraud, and breach of contract after the sanitized interview was aired, and launched a 500-page smear campaign against him. Fortunately for Wigand, his depositions at the Mississippi and Kentucky state courts were leaked, and were published by the Wall Street Journal as part of an investigative rebuttal to the attacks. CBS News, embarrassed, finally aired the full, original Wigand interview on 60 Minutes, leaving much of the nation in shock.

Forty-six states ultimately filed a Medicaid suit against the tobacco industry, which led to a $368 billion settlement in health-related damages by the tobacco companies."