*Editor's Note: Unfortunately, Victor DeNoble was forced to cancel at the last minute and filmmaker Charmaine Parcero will take his place in the post-screening Q&A session.
Perceptions of whistleblowers in feature films are generally favorable, and do much to combat unjustified negative connotations that a few people still hold toward workplace truth-tellers. The Insider, Serpico, The Constant Gardener, All The President's Men, The Whistleblower ... all of these films are based on true events, and show the power (and difficulty) that one person can have when choosing to step forward with the truth.
Well-known whistleblower-themed documentaries, however, are a bit more rare. But one new film, Addiction Incorporated – premiering this week in Washington DC, in association with GAP (info below) – does a truly great job of showcasing how a worker can stumble into corporate wrongdoing, immediately know something is not right, and (unfortunately) be effectively stifled for several years. And while the film's subject can be a difficult one – how cigarette companies knowingly kept health information about their products from the masses, resulting in countless deaths – it is quite enjoyable to watch, with a clear and interesting narrative.
The majority of the picture is driven by the story of scientist-turned-whistleblower Victor J. DeNoble, who journalists and politicians laud as being the individual that greatly helped turn the tide against Big Tobacco and its suppression of eye-popping health data. DeNoble was hired by Philip Morris in the early 1980s to develop a healthier cigarette (or so he was told). For years, the company had been trying to figure out how to make its customers not die from heart problems. In DeNoble's words, Philip Morris:
"...had a bunch of chemists, and these chemists were altering the nicotine molecule. But they had no way to test it. That's where I came in. My job was to identify a molecule where the rat's brain said 'I like it,' but the rat's heart had no problem with."
So DeNoble accomplished his task ... a little too well. His experiments on rats involved studying the effect that nicotine and other cigarette chemicals have on the human brain. Besides proving that nicotine was addictive, he (along with another scientist-whistleblower, Paul Mele) found that nicotine mixed with increased levels of acetaldehyde (a chemical already found in cigarettes) is super-addictive.
Once the corporate higher-ups learned about this, you can guess what happened. Creating a healthier product (if it was ever really about that) took a backseat to making a more addictive one. In fact, in DeNoble's words, "maximally addictive." DeNoble and Mele were told that the animal-testing was to stop, that the rats were to be destroyed, and that they were both fired. Because of confidentiality agreements, neither was allowed to speak publicly about their studies, until a decade later, when Congress came calling (as the film illustrates).
While not purely about whistleblowing, the film does a solid job in capturing some of the emotions/fears that whistleblowers typically experience. Including the courage that DeNoble musters to work with and appear before Congress, for which several notable leaders praise him, including Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Ca).
This Friday, February 3, Addiction Incorporated will have its Washington, DC premiere at the E Street Theater. Whistleblower supporters will be empowered by watching this film. Following the 7:40 show, at a special presentation, GAP Executive Director Bea Edwards will host a brief (15-20 minute) Q&A session with film director Charles Evans, Jr.
Please come out for a great film and to show your support!
Dylan Blaylock is Communications Director for the Government Accountability Project, the nation's leading whistleblower protection and advocacy organization.
Thursday, 02 February 2012