Joseph Little
Rebecca Gaskins
The Insider Essay
2/6/12
Fighting Against Tobacco
Jeffery Wigand faced the biggest decision of his life when he discovered what his
company was doing to their product and the effect it had on the public. His decision was
whether or not to come out with his story or stick to a confidentiality agreement signed with his
company. Jeffrey Wigand was justified in his actions to spread the word that the company he
worked for was harming the public. After he found out that Brown & Williamson was enhancing
the effects of nicotine with dangerous additives he didn’t know what to do. In the end he did the
right thing in speaking out and fighting for what he believes in. If Dr. Wigand didn’t do what he
did, who knows where the world of tobacco would be and who knows what else tobacco
companies would have gotten away with to make more money.
Dr. Wigand worked as a researcher for a big tobacco company called Brown &
Williamson. In doing research he discovered that the company was enhancing the effect of
nicotine by putting dangerous additives such as ammonia into cigarettes (The Insider). This was
done by a process called ammonia chemistry which made the lungs absorb nicotine quicker and
in turn this would affect the brain and central nervous system (Leung 1). When Dr. Wigand
went to his boss, his boss didn’t take him lightly. Brown & Williamson made Dr. Wigand sign a
confidentiality agreement and soon after let him go. Dr. Wigand wanted to spread the word of
what he discovered but the confidentiality agreement and the benefits he received from the
company prevented him from coming out right away (The Insider). A correspondent for 60
Minutes, Mike Wallace, eventually talked Dr. Wigand into doing an interview and letting the
world know of the harmful effects cigarettes have on the body (The Insider). But they faced one
big problem. CBS didn’t want to air the interview because they feared that Brown & Williamson
would sue them for potentially millions of dollars for persuading Dr. Wigand to break his
confidentiality agreement (Leung 1). Dr. Wigand went out on a limb to do this interview and he
was very upset when he found this news out. In the past, people who tried to go against tobacco
companies failed because the companies would intimidate them and prevent them from
successfully coming out with the information they had (The Insider). Eventually a notable
newspaper printed the story of Dr. Wigand and after this CBS was no longer afraid of airing the
interview (Leung 2). 60 Minutes showed Dr. Wigand’s interview and he had finally gotten his
story out.
In coming out with this story Dr. Wigand suffered many losses. In between finding out
about what Brown & Williamson was doing and the airing of Dr. Wigand’s interview, his life
completely changed. After Brown & Williamson let him go they feared that Dr. Wigand was
going to release his information so they did many things to try and intimidate him and get him to
not come out with his story. Every day Dr. Wigand feared for his life and his family. This tore
his family apart and his wife eventually divorced him. He lost almost everything he had. Even
though Dr. Wigand was successful, life would have been much better if none of this happened.
Dr. Wigand did the right thing in breaking his confidentiality agreement. He potentially
saved thousands maybe even millions of people by informing the world about the negative
effects of cigarettes. There had been many attempts before Dr. Wigand to take down big tobacco
companies but none of them succeeded. He knew something had to be done and he knew he
couldn’t let Brown & Williamson take him down. If Dr. Wigand didn’t fight like he did, who
knows where the world of tobacco would be today. Many people smoke cigarettes and don’t
understand what it’s doing to their bodies. Dr. Wigand single-handedly is responsible for letting
the media and the public know of the dangerous, inhumane thing that the tobacco companies did.
When Dr. Wigand was fired he should not have just got another job and let everything fade
away. He needed another job to support himself and his family but he did the right thing in still
fighting for what he thought was the right thing to do. If he would have just let everything fade
away he would have been just another person trying to take down a tobacco company, but he
wasn’t.
Dr. Wigand to this day is still fighting against tobacco. “Wigand has spearheaded
efforts to ban smoking in public places. He’s gone from town to town, and state to state to
establish smoke-free zones..” (Leung 2). If Dr. Wigand wouldn’t have gone head to head with
Brown & Williamson this movement would have never happened and tobacco problems would
be bigger than they are now. These days many kids start smoking as early as 18 years old
(Leung 3). Dr. Wigand goes around the county speaking to children in school, hoping that doing
this will reduce the number of kids who decide to begin smoking (Leung 3).