We don’t kill people; nicotine kills people, said Victor J. DeNoble, an experimental psychlogist, when he spoke Tuesday night at Rudder Theater as part of “What the Tobacco Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know.”
That slogan was the credo of the Philip Morris Company 24 years ago, DeNoble said.
DeNoble ran a secret laboratory for Philip Morris from 1980 to 1984 and was a key witness for the U.S. attorney general’s office case against major tobacco companies.
In 1984, DeNoble was terminated when Philip Morris executives discovered his ground-breaking research on how tobacco affects the brain.
“It takes five to 10 years for the effects of nicotine to totally leave the central nervous system,” DeNoble said.
Health Education Coordinator Rhonda Rahn expressed gratitude for DeNoble’s presentation.
“We feel that Dr. DeNoble is one of the nation’s leading experts on nicotine, and we are very proud to have him here,” Rahn said.
DeNoble’s job at Philip Morris was to design a drug that was like nicotine, but would not have the effects on the human heart that nicotine does.
During his research he realized that it was the brain that was most affected by the drug.
“One thing that I learned during my research is that the human is the only animal that will voluntarily inhale smoke into its lungs to ingest nicotine,” DeNoble said. “Monkeys that were addicted to nicotine still would not inhale cigarette smoke because it went against their instinct.”
DeNoble was able to design a cigarette that reduced its toxins by 80 percent.
“My cigarette would have saved 150,000 to 200,000 lives a year, but Philip Morris said that by producing the new cigarette, it would be admitting that cigarettes kill people and their attitude was to simply let those people die,” DeNoble said.
Even though the tobacco companies have been penalized millions of dollars, we still should remain vigilant of their practices, DeNoble said.
Tobacco companies describe smoking as an adult activity in their public service ads, but people should remember that to an 11-year-old, adult activities are what is interesting, DeNoble said.
Freshman Kian Greely said DeNoble’s presentation was effective.
“I came here tonight to gain insight on public speaking,” said Greely, a freshman kinesiology major.
Greely said she appreciated DeNoble’s ability to combine visual aids with a no-holds-barred speaking style.