Victor DeNoble presented his story, “Inside the Dark Side: The Science Behind Tobacco, the Truth Behind the Lies,” detailing his work as a researcher for Phillip Morris Tobacco Company to an audience of students Monday in the Oklahoma Memorial Union.

DeNoble began his story at the end: In 1994, seven CEOs from the seven tobacco companies in the U.S. testified under oath that nicotine was neither a drug nor addictive.

“What these seven people didn’t know was that while they were testifying in Washington [D.C.], my wife and I were also in Washington,” he said. “I would tell Congress under oath I was a scientist, I would tell Congress under oath I did drug research, I would tell Congress under oath that I had scientific proof that nicotine from cigarettes changes the structure of [the brain], and most importantly, I would tell Congress under oath I discovered that nicotine changes the way a rat’s brain works while I worked inside a tobacco company.”

DeNoble said Phillip Morris Tobacco Company approached him in 1980 to make a “safer” tobacco product that would not cause cardiovascular problems, but would still be addictive.

DeNoble said he initially thought the company wanted to create a product that would save lives.

“They said, ‘We have a problem,’” DeNoble said. “They said, ‘We kill 138,000 people every year from heart attacks.’”

While he was researching a safer cigarette, he said he also experimented with rats to figure out exactly how nicotine affected the brain. He said he found that nicotine not only makes a smoker addicted and causes heart problems; it can also change the cells in the brain for five to 10 years after the user has quit.

“I told [Phillip Morris] what I did,” DeNoble said. “They said, ‘What are you doing? We told you no brain experiments. We can’t tell people about this!’”

After DeNoble discovered the safer product, which he said removed 82 percent of the cancer causing agents in cigarettes, he said the company told him it would not market the product because it would have to admit that 160 other products it sold were harmful.

In 1984, Phillip Morris fired DeNoble and told him his contract kept him from volunteering his information with the public, DeNoble said.

Over the next ten years, he tried to notify Congress of the truth. After a lawyer he hired sold the evidence he provided back to Phillip Morris, he said he had to get creative.

“I said [to my wife] that I got an idea,” DeNoble said. “I said, ‘It’s a little crazy, but I think it might work.’”

DeNoble mailed pictures of his rat experiments to the FBI with his fingerprints on the 35 mm slides. He said the FBI arrested him, and he was forced to testify under oath in federal court.

“I didn’t volunteer my knowledge,” DeNoble said. “I complied with a court order.”

After DeNoble testified, he said President Bill Clinton contacted him and put him in protective custody. He said he was then released from his secrecy agreement by vote in the 104th Congress.

DeNoble said his story led to the many changes in U.S. tobacco laws today.

“The tobacco industry was fined $400 billion for lying to the public,” DeNoble said. “Today 30 states have banned indoor smoking in our country ... We now have universities going smoke free, we’ve got all sorts of countries going smoke free.”

He said the purpose of his presentation was to warn students that they will be faced with these kind of decisions while working for a major corporation.

“I’m not here to tell people what to do, I’m a scientist,” DeNoble said. “I’m here to give you information. What you do with the story is really up to you.”

DeNoble ended his speech with this note: “This is the only group of people I know that can manufacture a product that, used as intended, will at least harm you and can kill you, and yet it is legal. 450,000 people will die in this country this year because they smoke tobacco products. We went to war over 9/11, and yet 450,000 will die.”