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WIGAND ANSWERS QUESTIONS ABOUT Y-1 BLENDING A PROCESS TO REDUCE TAR IN TOBACCO MR. MOTLEY: Go ahead, sir.
A. Y-1 was a reading [breeding] project conducted by Dean Ap and Centiments in New Jersey. The intent behind Y-1 was to manage the tar-to-nicotine ratio. MR. MOTLEY:
Q. Manage the tar-to-nicotine ratio?
A. Manage the tar-to-nicotine ratio. If you could increase the burley component of nicotine from three and a half, four percent to seven to eight percent, you would substantially change the tar-to-nicotine ratio from twelve to one to five to one and ultimately one to one.
MR. BEZANSON: Move to strike on confidential and trade secret grounds.
THE WITNESS: It is in the public domain.
MR. MOTLEY:
Q. I know it is in the FDA report. But go ahead, sir, and tell us what you know about it since you were there.
MR. BEZANSON: Object and instruct not to answer on trade secret confidential grounds as covered by the TRO that has been entered and the contractual agreements that Mr. Wigand has entered into with the company. MR. MOTLEY:
Q. Go ahead, sir. You can tell us about Y-1. I want you to tell us on the record about how the guy hid the seeds and took them down to Brazil. We'll get to that in a minute.
MR. BEZANSON: Object to the statement by counsel.
MR. MOTLEY:
Q. I suppose hiding seeds in a cigarette pack is a trade secret, too. You go ahead and tell us, sir, what happened with Y-1.
A. Y-1 was a project dedicated towards increasing the tar-to-nicotine ratios. If you can have less mass of tobacco at higher nicotine, you'd essentially be reducing the negative character of smoking, as you'd be reducing tar or maintaining the nicotine delivery at a constant level. That was a way of managing the tar to nicotine ratios, while lowering the tar while maintaining the nicotine.
Q. Did there come a time when someone took seeds to Brazil?
A. Yes, there was.
Q. Would you tell us who and in what way they did that and whether or not that was illegal?
MR. BEZANSON: Object to the form.
MR. CRIST: Also object because it calls for a legal conclusion.
MR. MOTLEY: They have lawyers that practice science, and now they' re objecting to a scientist practicing law.
Q. My question simply put, let me start over. Can you tell us whether anyone, to your knowledge, took seeds, tobacco seeds of any kind, to Brazil?
A. Seeds were harvested at Centiments in New Jersey, and they were taken out knowingly when it was illegal to take them out and bring them to Souza Cruz to be grown.
MR. BEZANSON: Move to strike as nonresponsive.
MR. MOTLEY:
Q. Souza Cruz is in Brazil?
A. Brazil.
Q. How were these seeds taken from the United States to Brazil?
A. Several times it was taken by Mr. Phil Fisher.
Q. Who is he?
A. He was head of the reblending group.
Q. Of who?
A. Of Brown & Williamson.
Q. How did he take them down there?
A. He carried them in a cigarette pack.
Q. He hid them?
A. He hid them.
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