Action on Smoking and Health A National Legal-Action Antismoking Organization Entirely Supported by Tax-Deductible Contributions    Search  | Info About  | ash.org| To Join |  Email Page

Excerpts from: PROFITS OVER PEOPLE

By Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)[12/17/02]
 
This report shows that transnational tobacco companies have engaged in active, comprehensive campaigns of deception over the last decade in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) regarding the harmful effects of second-hand smoke and the nature of tobacco company marketing activities. These public relations campaigns were primarily designed to delay or avoid tobacco marketing restrictions, tax increases and restrictions on public and workplace smoking.

The report is the result of over a year of investigation of more than 10,000 pages of internal tobacco company documents. The documents are primarily from Philip Morris and British American Tobacco, who together have most of the market share in LAC, and were obtained through the Internet and through the Guildford depository in the United Kingdom. The report shows that the tobacco companies:

were intensely competitive but collaborated in campaigns against common threats to the industry

hired scientists throughout the region to misrepresent the science linking secondhand smoke to serious diseases, while cloaking in secrecy any connection of these scientists with the tobacco industry;
designed “youth smoking prevention” campaigns and programs primarily as public relations exercises aimed at deterring meaningful regulation of tobacco marketing;

had detailed knowledge of smuggling networks and markets and actively sought to increase their share of the illegal market by structuring marketing campaigns and distribution routes around it; and

enjoyed access to key government officials and succeeded in weakening or killing tobacco control legislation in a number of countries.