Victor J. DeNoble, Ph.D. was recruited in 1980 by the Phillip Morris Research Center to build a secret research lab and to develop a cigarette with reduced heart risk. After successfully identifying a nicotine substitute that did not elevate the heart rate in animal models, his attempts to publish his work were suppressed by Philip Morris. He was eventually fired and his laboratory and data were seized. In 1994, after a decade of being silenced by a secrecy agreement, Dr. DeNoble became the first whistle-blower to testify before Congress about his research conducted within the tobacco industry. His research showed that nicotine has addictive properties similar to other drugs of addiction. His congressional testimony was the cornerstone for sweeping changes in public policy regarding