In yet another blow to the credibility of Big Tobacco, a string of lawsuits has revealed that top-secret research by Phillip Morris and others into the possible harmful side effects tobacco additives were found to be widely falsified and misrepresented. Lead by Marcia Wertz, of the Center for Tobacco Control Research at the University of California, the suits found Big Tobacco routinely distorted or cherry picked its findings in its published studies. The studies were long buried by Phillip Morris in attempt to convince the public that additives like menthol were no more harmful than unadulterated tobacco smoke. One study of 333 additives in 2001 claimed to find no “meaningful effect of the ingredients on the toxicity of cigarettes.” An external review of the study found the opposite to be true.