Jeffrey Wigand

Jeffrey Wigand

Jeffrey S. Wigand ( /ˈwaɪɡænd/; born December 17, 1942) is a former vice president of research and development at Brown & Williamson in Louisville, Kentucky, who worked on the development of reduced-harm cigarettes. He lectures around the world as an expert witness and consultant for various tobacco issues, and devotes time to his non-profit organization Smoke-Free Kids Inc, an organization that attempts to help children of all ages make better decisions and healthy choices regarding tobacco use.

Wigand became nationally known as a whistleblower regarding the company's decisions involving the selection of ingredients in their cigarettes when on February 4, 1996 on the CBS news program 60 Minutes, he stated Brown & Williamson intentionally manipulates the tobacco blend to increase the amount of nicotine in cigarette smoke, thereby increasing the 'impact' to the smoker. Nicotine is a naturally occurring substance in tobacco that is partly responsible for the habit-forming, addictive, and pleasurable effects of cigarette smoking. Wigand claims that he was subsequently harassed and received anonymous death threats. Wigand discusses the death threats in an interview.

He was portrayed by Russell Crowe in the 1999 film The Insider directed by Michael Mann, which also stars Al Pacino and Christopher Plummer.