Paul L. Perito, Chairman, President and Chief Operating Officer of Star Scientific, Inc., Today Issued the Following Statement.

Business Editors

BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 19, 2001

Paul L. Perito, Chairman, President and Chief Operating Officer of Star Scientific, Inc., Today Issued the Following Statement:

      On December 18, 2001 several health groups filed four petitions
with the FDA requesting that the agency exert regulatory authority
over a number of products including Ariva(TM), the smokeless,
compressed hard-snuff tobacco product our company currently is test
marketing. Under the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the FDA has broad
discretion in responding to "citizen petitions", which frequently are
filed by individuals or groups to request agency action on a wide
range of issues. Over the years, groups like the Campaign for Tobacco
Free Kids have filed multiple citizen petitions with the FDA in
attempts to have that agency assert authority over tobacco products.
While Star consistently has advocated for Congressional legislation
that would grant the FDA comprehensive regulatory authority over all
tobacco products, we believe that this action with respect to
Ariva(TM) is misguided and without merit.
      As a result of a March 2000 Supreme Court decision, the FDA does
not have regulatory authority over tobacco products unless a health
claim is made. No such claim is made for Ariva(TM)/1. It is a
conventional smokeless tobacco product, made of powdered, compressed
tobacco. Ariva(TM) is used by adult smokers to get tobacco taste and
satisfaction when they cannot smoke. For all these reasons we believe
there is no basis for agency action on the petition.
      In describing the Supreme Court's opinion as it relates to
congressional intent in dealing with FDA authority over tobacco, the
petition concedes, "The Court clearly concluded that Congress had not
intended to ban traditional tobacco products as customarily marketed
even if they were dangerous." The petitions, however, seek action by
the FDA that would ban from the market a product like Ariva(TM) that
has been designed to deliver lower levels of toxins to the consumer.
Whatever our country's skeptics may think about the Congress and the
Court, it is hard to imagine either of those institutions deliberately
allowing promotion of only tobacco products that contain higher levels
of toxins, nor do we believe that the Executive Branch is likely to
take a similarly irrational position.
      The future of any comprehensive FDA authority rests with Congress.
We understand the health groups' frustration that after fourteen
years, their efforts have not resulted in the FDA authority they have
sought. However, Star Scientific was the first company to publicly
support comprehensive FDA authority more than three years ago. It is
doubly ironic, therefore, that these groups, who for years have
criticized the major tobacco companies for their failure to develop
products that deliver fewer toxins, now attack an innovative company
whose mission focuses on technologies and products that hold the
promise of reducing tobacco-related harm. In pursuing this petition,
they are working to keep from the market a smokeless tobacco product -
Ariva(TM) - that we believe has fully met their challenge.

      About Star Scientific

      Star Scientific is a technology-oriented tobacco company with a
toxin reduction mission. It is engaged in the development of tobacco
products that deliver fewer carcinogenic toxins (principally tobacco
specific nitrosamines, or TSNAs), through the utilization of the
innovative StarCured(TM) tobacco curing technology, and in
sublicensing that technology to others. Through the StarCured(TM)
tobacco curing program, the company also works closely with the
tobacco growers' communities to help them regain competitive advantage
in the domestic and global tobacco leaf markets. Star Scientific has a
corporate and sales Office in Chester, Va., an executive, scientific
and regulatory affairs office in Bethesda, Md., and manufacturing and
processing facilities in Petersburg and Chase City, Va.

This statement contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company has tried, whenever possible, to identify these forward-looking statements using words such as "anticipates", "believes", "estimates", "expects", "plans", "intends" and similar expressions. These statements reflect the Company's current beliefs and are based upon information currently available to it. Accordingly, such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, such statements. These risks, uncertainties and contingencies include, without limitation, the fact that the Company may not be successful in litigation to enforce its patent rights, that tobacco companies and others potentially infringing its patent may not enter into royalty agreements to sublicense its patents, that the tobacco industry may not adopt low-TSNA tobacco as its predominant tobacco rapidly or at all, or that a non-infringing product competitive with the patents may be developed by a third party. Other risks of the business include the challenges inherent in new product development initiatives, the Company's ability to raise the capital necessary to grow its business, potential disputes concerning the Company's intellectual property, potential delays in obtaining any necessary government approvals of the Company's proposed reduced risk tobacco products, market acceptance of the Company's proposed new products, competition from companies with greater resources than the Company, the Company's decision not to join the Master Settlement Agreement ("MSA") and its decision to challenge the constitutionality of the MSA, the effect of state statutes adopted under the MSA and any subsequent modification of the MSA, the Company's dependence on key employees and on its strategic relationships with Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation. The impact of potential litigation, if initiated against or by individual states that have adopted the MSA, could be materially adverse to the Company. See additional discussion under "Factors That May Affect Future Results" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2000, and other factors detailed from time to time in the Company's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or advise upon any such forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

See Star Scientific's website at: http://www.starscientific.com .

/1: Star has independent scientific analysis to support the conclusion that Ariva(TM) contains significantly less of the carcinogenic nitrosamines found in most smokeless tobacco products. The company chose to take a conservative position on labeling by making no health or comparative content claims, even though the company believes it is scientifically valid and provable.