Tobacco

When "Social Values" Means Smoking

by Anne Landman — February 18, 2008 - 12:56pm

When the dangers of smoking first became widely known, cigarette companies secretly hired biomedical scientists to create confusion.

Main Source: 
New Scientist (sub req'd), February 16, 2008

Smoldering Controversy

by Sheldon Rampton — February 13, 2008 - 11:32pm

"Here's a recipe for academic controversy," observes Richard C. Paddock: "First, find dozens of hard-core teenage smokers as young as 14 and study their brains with high-tech scans. Second, feed vervet monkeys liquid nicotine and then kill at least six of them to examine their brains. Third, accept $6 million from tobacco giant Philip Morris to pay for it all.

Main Source: 
Los Angeles Times, February 9, 2008

They'd Like to Teach the World to Smoke

by Anne Landman — January 29, 2008 - 3:07pm

With marketing constraints increasing and cigarette usage declining in the developed world, Philip Morris (PM) is increasingly targeting smokers in other countries. PM now makes sweet-smelling cigarettes with cloves and other flavors that have twice the tar and nicotine as conventional products, created to appeal to smokers in developing countries.

Main Source: 
Wall Street Journal (sub req'd), January 29, 2008

CMD and Consumer Reports WebWatch Launch Full Frontal Scrutiny

by Judith Siers-Poisson — January 29, 2008 - 1:42pm
  • Topics: Astroturf, Internet, Front Groups, Third Party Technique, Corporations, Democracy, Environment, Health, Pharmaceuticals, Public Relations, Science, Secrecy, Tobacco

    • "The American public deserves to know when someone is trying to persuade them." — U.S. Federal Communications Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, Thursday, January 17, 2008

    Front Groups Beware of Full Frontal Scrutiny

    Today, the Center for Media and Democracy and our partners at Consumer Reports WebWatch launched an exciting new project: Full Frontal Scrutiny. The site seeks to shine a light on front groups -- organizations that state a particular agenda, while hiding or obscuring their identity, membership or sponsorship, or all three. Google the term "front groups" and the number one return is CMD's extensive articles on its SourceWatch site.

    Why Don't We Talk About Smoking and Celebrity Deaths?

    by Anne Landman — January 25, 2008 - 1:48pm
  • Topics: Arts / Culture, Education, Secrecy, Tobacco

    • Actress Suzanne Pleshette's recent death from "respiratory distress" was sad. Most of the articles about it briefly mention that she had been fighting lung cancer, but fail to mention that she had been a cigarette smoker in the past. Cigarette smoking is the single biggest cause of lung cancer.

    It is rarely discussed, but tobacco has taken an extraordinarily heavy toll on Hollywood. The list of beloved celebrities killed by smokers' diseases is huge, and growing: George Harrison, Johnny Carson, Dana Reeve, Yul Brynner, Lucille Ball, Walt Disney, Nat King Cole, Joe DiMaggio, Michael Landon, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Betty Grable, and Babe Ruth to name just a few. Despite this, the failure to mention a person's smoking history in obituary columns is the norm in celebrity deaths. In just one glaring example, a four page obituary about the 2005 death of prominent news anchor Peter Jennings published by his own network, ABC, fails to mention the contribution that smoking made to Jennings' tragic and untimely death. A CNN's column about Jennings' death didn't mention it either. Something is up when major news organizations omit any mention the single most prominent cause of the death of a renowned news anchor.

    New Participatory Project: Help Clean Up TobaccoWiki's "People" Database

    by Anne Landman — January 22, 2008 - 5:00pm

    We need help tidying up Tobaccowiki's expansive database of people involved with the tobacco industry. Many of the descriptions in the database are currently in fragmented sentences. For example, the description of Betsy Agle says "(EPA Indoor Air Branch employee)." We would rather it say "Betsy Agle was a U.S.

    Main Source: 
    Tobaccowiki.org

    Corporate Responsibility or "Hidden Campaigns"?

    by Anne Landman — January 22, 2008 - 1:49pm

    The General Chairman of Indonesia's National Commission for Child Protection, Seto Mulyadi, called tobacco companies' corporate social responsibility programs "hidden cigarette campaigns." Mulyadi said that cigarette companies "do free advertising through their CSR programs." Mulyadi is proposing a complete ban on cigarette advertising in Indonesia, after a study by the country's Publi

    Main Source: 
    Tempo Interactive, Jakarta, January 18, 2008

    Cigarette Pack-Shaped Books Get British American Tobacco Steamed

    by Anne Landman — January 16, 2008 - 3:02pm

    Capitalizing on the public's familiarity with cigarette brands, a publisher and design company in the United Kingdom has released a set of literary classics designed to look like cigarette packs.

    Main Source: 
    The Guardian (UK), January 16, 2008

    Adults Still Don't "Get It" on Youth Smoking

    by Anne Landman — January 14, 2008 - 4:54pm
  • Topics: Advertising, Corporate Campaigns, Corporate Social Responsibility, Children, Health, Marketing, Tobacco

    • A recent report issued by the American Lung Association gives the State of Virginia a "D" for its youth smoking prevention efforts.

    Cigarette "Taste Test" Snuffed Out

    by Anne Landman — January 9, 2008 - 2:59pm

    Australia's 1992 Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act prohibited most forms of tobacco advertising, making it more difficult for tobacco companies to promote their products. Despite the law, an Australian market-research firm called Feedback Plus was found to be distributing free cigarettes in a program it said was a "taste-testing survey" being carried out as part of a "marketing research" program.

    Main Source: 
    Sydney Morning Herald, January 9, 2008
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