To: subject: — PHILIP MORRIS \ U.S.A. INTER-OFFICE CORRESPONDENCE RICHMOND, VIRGINIA Dr. H. Wakeham bate: November 1, 1972 R. Fagan Electromyographic Studies of Muscle Relaxation in Smokers Or. Dunn and I met with Joseph Brudny, M.D., a diplomate in rehabilitation medicine; Roland Levy, M.D., a resident at Bellevue Hospital; and from Columbia University a psychologist by the name of Weinstock. Brudny and Levy had noticed in their treatment of patients whom they were trying to train to relax voluntary muscles that smokers were not able to relax unless they were allowed to smoke. The number of people tested and who demonstrated this activity was small. To pursue the phenomenon of muscle relaxation under the influence of smoking, the group at Bellevue would like to be subsidized. What they want is the establishment of an inde- pendent research institute to be staffed and to be equipped to study about 200 people. Complete neurologic, psychologic and electromyographic study will try to elucidate the reasons for continuation of the smoking habit and the basis for the obvious muscular (and by implication the psychologic) relaxation that takes place after smoking a few puffs on a cigaret. Off the cuff estimate for organizing, equipping and staffing the institute and doing the indicated study in a year - year and a half is 200-250 thousand dollars. In my opinion, the request is premature. For one there is no evidence that the initial observation is a valid one. At the moment it is only anecdotal. For another there is no evidence that one is dealing with the action of cigarets rather than relieving a sense of deprivation. Would any non-smoker deprived of something react the same way when his deprivation is discontinued? What it sounds like at the moment is that cigarets are addicting and the reaction of the inveterate cigaret smoker is like that of any drug addict. I should like to see some preliminary work to validate the initial observation. This should include different brands of cigarets, placebo treatment, and perhaps the use of nicotine itself. SPPTOSTOOT i: echt ick init in Sian asceci e iy e aiS iseicbmsThe market promotion value of this work, assuming it is valid, may be negated by the fact that it was done in an independent institute financed by a cigaret manufacturer or by the tobacco industry. Only if the work were done under the auspices of an institution with a well-established reputation for intellectual honesty and integrity would this be worthwhile. A copy of the hand-written preliminary request for funding is attached. K Figew Attachment . cc: F. Resnik W. Dunn 2vPTostoor