Tobacco

Shaping the Message, Distorting the Science

by Sheldon Rampton — March 27, 2007 - 2:13pm
  • Topics: Global Warming, U.S. Congress, Lobbying, Marketing, Public Relations, Science, Tobacco

    • I've been asked to deliver testimony this Wednesday before the Committee on Science and Technology of the U.S. House of Representatives, which is holding a hearing titled "Shaping the Message, Distorting the Science: Media Strategies to Influence Science Policy."

    The Appearance of an Independent Judiciary Goes Up in Smoke

    by Anne Landman — March 23, 2007 - 1:44pm
  • Topics: Right Wing, Corporations, Lobbying, Tobacco, U.S. Government

    • Things are looking grimmer and grimmer for U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

    The scandal involving the firing of eight attorneys has led to accusations that Gonzales runs the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to suit the Bush administration's right-wing political ideology instead of to protect the interest of citizens. Now Sharon Eubanks, the lead attorney in DOJ's racketeering case against the major American tobacco companies, has emerged to provide further evidence of judicial rigging.

    What Philip Morris Seeks in FDA Regulation: Preservation of the Status Quo

    by Anne Landman — March 20, 2007 - 4:08pm
  • Topics: Tobacco, U.S. Government

    • A 23-page, formerly "privileged and confidential" company discussion document outlines Philip Morris' thinking behind its 180-degree turn from strongly opposing U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversight of cigarettes to in fact driving such regulation. It clues us in to the company's logic in proceeding down this path and what the company hopes for and fears most in FDA regulation. It was written by Mark Berlind, who was Assistant General Counsel of Philip Morris Worldwide Regulatory Affairs in 1998.

    American Heart Association Sticks with Smoky Partner

    by Anne Landman — March 7, 2007 - 1:14pm

    The American Heart Association (AHA) is once again partnering with the Rite Aid Drug Store chain to promote its "Go Red for Women" campaign, aimed at increasing public awareness of heart disease in women.

    Main Source: 
    Rite Aid press release, February 1, 2007

    University of Virginia Gets an "F" in Tobacco Industry Studies

    by Anne Landman — February 27, 2007 - 12:33pm
  • Topics: Public Relations, Science, Tobacco

    • On February 9, 2007, the University of Virginia (UVa) announced its acceptance of a $25 million gift from cigarette maker Philip Morris, to support biomedical research and "business leadership." In its press release, UVa said the gift created a partnership between PM and the university "in a number of key areas in which they share a common interest."

    That a medical school would find common interests with a company whose products kill 440,000 Americans annually is troubling, to say the least. Moreover, an analysis of tobacco industry documents published by the medical journal Academic Medicine in October 2004 clearly shows that the tobacco industry seeks to buy legitimacy by funding research -- biomedical research, in particular. Study author Nathaniel Wander said that he found "PM wanted to be seen to contribute to medical research to counter the image of harm caused by its cigarettes." Such grantmaking has long been a centerpiece of the tobacco industry's decades-long propaganda campaign to keep the public confused about the health hazards of smoking and, more recently, the hazardous effects of secondhand smoke on nonsmokers. In addition, the covert influence of the tobacco industry on academic research is well established.

    Cutting Cigarette Deaths "Good For Business"-- But Not Right Now

    by Anne Landman — February 20, 2007 - 1:28pm

    Newly-introduced federal legislation would give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) a measure of authority over the manufacturing, marketing and advertising of tobacco products.

    Main Source: 
    Washington Post, February 17, 2007

    A Camel in a Skirt Still a Femme Fatale

    by Anne Landman — February 16, 2007 - 1:36pm

    R.J. Reynolds caused a stir recently by unveiling new female-targeted Camel cigarettes, "Camel No. 9." Camel cigarettes have for years been targeted at the "virile segment" -- male smokers whom RJR thinks respond to ads that feature pictures of macho men climbing mountains, fording rivers and such. RJR's targeting of women is not new, however.

    Main Source: 
    New York Times, February 15, 2007

    Beware The Tobacco Company That Begs for FDA Regulation

    by Anne Landman — February 13, 2007 - 4:25pm
  • Topics: Tobacco, U.S. Government

    • It's not often you hear of a tobacco company begging for government regulation--especially one that has screamed "too much government regulation" at virtually every tobacco-related public health law proposed in the past. But that's exactly what tobacco company lobbyists are doing. Lobbyists for Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris (PM), have reportedly been distributing to Congress members summaries of two legislative bills that both propose the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulate cigarettes. A colleague of mine managed to obtain a copy of the summaries. It has Altria's logo on it.

    The Gori Truth: Tobacco Industry Payments to Toxicologist Undisclosed

    by Anne Landman — February 12, 2007 - 4:27pm

    As part of a program to give voice to a select group of think tanks, on January 30 the Washington Post printed an article by toxicologist and epidemiologist Gio Batta Gori, titled "The Bogus 'Science' of Secondhand Smoke." Gori claims that many published studies on the health hazards of secondhand smoke are based on

    Main Source: 
    Washington Post, January 30, 2007
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