ESSAY; Tracing the Cigarette's Path From Sexy to Deadly

By HOWARD MARKEL, M.D.

Published: March 20, 2007

In 2004, Dr. Brandt was recruited by the Department of Justice to serve as its star expert witness in the federal racketeering case against Big Tobacco and to counter the gaggle of witnesses recruited by the industry. According to their own testimony, most of the 29 historians testifying on behalf of Big Tobacco did not even consult the industry's internal research or communications. Instead, these experts focused primarily on a small group of skeptics of the dangers of cigarettes during the 1950s, many of whom had or would eventually have ties to the tobacco industry.

''I was appalled by what the tobacco expert witnesses had written,'' Dr. Brandt said in a recent interview. ''By asking narrow questions and responding to them with narrow research, they provided precisely the cover the industry sought.''

Apparently, the judge, Gladys Kessler of Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, agreed. Last August, she concluded that the tobacco industry had engaged in a 40-year conspiracy to defraud smokers about tobacco's health dangers. Her opinion cited Dr. Brandt's testimony more than 100 times.

Dr. Brandt acknowledges that there are pitfalls in combining scholarship with battle against the deadly pandemic of cigarette smoking, but he says he sees little alternative.

''If one of us occasionally crosses the boundary between analysis and advocacy, so be it,'' he said. ''The stakes are high, and there is much work to be done.''