Addiction Incorporated (2011)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Addiction Incorporated is a documentary film which premiered in 2011.

 

The topic is the US tobacco industry, more specifically the Philip Morris Company, which produces the Marlboro cigarette.

 

Here is some basic information about this film:

 

** Produced and directed by Charles Evans, Jr.

** Research consultant: Myron Levin

** Released on DVD in 2016

** Run time: 76 minutes

 

The main character in this film is Victor DeNoble who was hired by the Philip Morris Company in 1980. He was hired to do chemical and experimental research. The experiments were conducted on rats in his laboratory. After a few years, Victor discovered how tobacco with nicotine was highly addictive.

 

He and his classmate Paul Mele wrote a scientific paper about the discovery which they wanted to publish in a scholarly journal. They asked the company for permission to publish. 

 

At first, permission to publish was granted, but then things suddenly changed: 

 

(1) They were told to withdraw the paper

(2) They were both fired

 

This happened in 1984. For many years, Victor and Paul were unable to talk about what had happened, because they were bound by a confidentiality clause which they had signed when they were hired.

 

Ten years later, in 1994, ABC ran a news report about the tobacco industry, claiming that tobacco with nicotine was addictive and that the tobacco companies had been aware of this fact for years, but they had failed to let the public know about this fact.

 

The ABC report led to congressional hearings during which the chairman of the committee asked the president of Philip Morris if he was willing to release Victor from the confidentiality clause which prevented him from talking about his work and his findings.

 

Hard pressed, the president said yes, and now Victor was finally allowed to tell the world what he had discovered during his experiments.

 

This was how Victor became the first “whistleblower” in the tobacco industry who had inside knowledge about what was going on in the tobacco industry.

 

In this film, we follow Victor’s life and career before, during and after his time with Philip Morris.

 

We also follow the public debate about the tobacco industry in the US.

 

The congressional hearings of 1994 led to a series of law suits against the industry which led to the so-called Tobacco Master Settlement of 1998. The settlement was included in a series of laws which were signed by President Obama on 22 June 2009.

 

Many persons, including Victor DeNoble, are interviewed for this film. The list of names is quite long, but I want to present it here in order to show you how thorough the director was when he made this film.

 

Here are the names of the participants (listed in the order of appearance):

 

The first group

** Bill Farone, director of applied research, Philip Morris, USA

** Jack Henningfield, chief of pharmacology research, National Institute on Drug Abuse

** Paul Mele, Victor’s classmate in college

** Myron Levin, investigative reporter, New York Times

** Neal Benowitz, professor of medicine, University of California, San Francisco

** Dan Zegart, author of Civil Warriors: The Legal Siege on the Tobacco Industry (2000) (2001)

 

The second group

** Steve Parrish, attorney, senior VP of corporate affairs, Philip Morris Inc.

** Mark Edell, plaintiff attorney

** Keith Summa, investigative reporter, ABC News

** Walt Bogdanich, investigative producer, Day One, ABC News

** Mitch Zeller, special assistant for policy, FDA

** William Schultz, counsel to House Subcommittee, Committee on Energy & Commerce

 

The third group

** Representative Henry Waxman, subcommittee chairman, Democrat-California, Committee on Energy & Commerce

** David Kessler, commissioner, FDA

** Tom Doyle, special agent for the FDA

** Gary Light, special agent for the FDA

** Cliff Douglas, tobacco control attorney and anti-tobacco activist

** Phil Barnett, chief counsel for Henry Waxman

 

The fourth group

** Carol DeNoble, Victor’s sister

** Camela DeNoble, Victor’s mother

** Phil Hilts, journalist, New York Times

** Daniel Abel, plaintiff attorney

** Joseph Bruno, plaintiff attorney

** Russ Herman, plaintiff attorney

 

The fifth group

** John Coale, plaintiff attorney

** Michael Moore, Attorney General of Mississippi

** Greg Connolly, director of tobacco control program, Massachusetts Department of Health

** Sharon Eubanks, director of tobacco litigation team, Department of Justice

** Matthew Myers, president of the campaign for tobacco free kids

 

At first, the pace of the film is a bit slow, but soon things begin to change: we have one witness after another, one fact after another, and one argument after another. Step by step the film is building an irrefutable case against Philip Morris and the tobacco industry in general. Throughout the film, Victor pops up from time to time, explaining what is going on with him and with the case.

 

What do other reviewers say about this film?

 

Here are some results:

 

64 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)

68 percent = Meta

71 percent = IMDb

72 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)

 

On Amazon there are at the moment 27 ratings of this product, 6 with reviews.

 

The average rating is 4.7 stars which corresponds to a rating of 94 percent.

 

As you can see, the ratings are quite good. But if you ask me, they are not good enough.

 

I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars (100 percent).

 

PS. The following items are available online:

 

** Jeanette Catsoulis, “Leading the Way through the Smoke,” New York Times, 13 December 2011

 

** Peter Rowe, “Philip Morris couldn’t snuff out Victor DeNoble: New documentary lights up addiction scientist’s story,” San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 January 2012

 

REFERENCES

 

Merchants of Death:

The American Tobacco Industry

By Larry C. White

(Hardcover 1988)

(Paperback 2015)

 

Civil Warriors:

The Legal Siege on the Tobacco Industry

By Dan Zegart

(Hardcover 2000)

(Paperback 2001)

 

Tobacco: A Cultural History of

How an Exotic Plant Seduced Civilization

By Iain Gately

(2002)

 

The Cigarette Century: 

The Rise, Fall, and 

Deadly Persistence of the 

Product That Defined America

By Allan M. Brandt

(Hardcover 2007)

(Paperback 2009)

 

The Cigarette:

A Political History

By Sarah Milov

(2019)

 

*****

The famous whistleblower

Victor DeNoble

(born 1950)

 

*****

The famous logo of the

Marlboro Cigarette

Produced by the

Philip Morris Company

 

*****