BIG TOBACCO AND ITS ALLIES MISLEAD PUBLIC AND MPs 

 

TOBACCO INDUSTRY HIDES THE TRUTH, MANIPULATES HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY, MISLEADS GOVERNMENT

Tobacco industry documents show they've worked behind the scenes to hide the harm from secondhand smoke - and to mislead and alarm proprietors, governments and the public... and all with one aim: to delay and weaken smokefree workplace laws.  

The tactics of the tobacco industry and its allied gaming interests have included:

More on the tobacco industry:  Have they really changed?  See  ASH tobacco industry page  including latest misdeeds

Smoked out: big tobacco's deals in clubland
11/7/08: Tobacco companies are paying Victorian pubs and clubs commissions for selling tobacco - showing the kind of connection that's frustrated and weakened smokefree pub and club laws.  See  Melbourne Age report 11/7/08 

 

Philip Morris' passive smoke coverup allied with greenhouse denial industry
19/9/06: How tobacco giant Philip Morris masterminded and funded a huge lobbying effort to deny and undermine evidence on harm from secondhand smoke - an operation which fostered and allied itself with a massive industry of climate-change denial.   Read  excerpt from Guardian (UK) article 

 

European report lifts lid on tobacco industry smokescreen
21/3/06: A new report from Europe's Smoke-free Partnership reveals the tobacco industry's recruitment of scientists to undermine the emerging consensus of scientific research on the harms caused by secondhand smoke.   See  report and background      See how the  tobacco industry and its allies have misled the public and MPs

 

Philip Morris hid secondhand smoke harm for 20 years
 10/11/04: Philip Morris hid harm from secondhand smoke for two decades, says a study published in The Lancet. A lab owned by Philip Morris USA uncovered evidence in the early 1980s about potential risks from passive smoking but its findings were never made public, says the article.  See Lancet article 11/04 

Big Tobacco works to keep Australian workplaces smoky 
See how the tobacco industry has manoeuvred to influence the debate on smokefree places in Australia.  
Harper T and Martin J (Letter), "Trojan Horses: how the tobacco industry infiltrates the smokefree debate in Australia." Aust N Z J Public Health 2002;26(6):572-573 

AHA's pro-smoky cash for comment outed on MediaWatch
 27/9/04: The Australian Hotels Association was exposed in an ABA report on an undisclosed cash-for-comment deal with 5AA Adelaide presenter Leon Byner. The AHA is on record as saying "democracy is not cheap" - apparently favourable media comment isn't either. The AHA influenced the SA government to achieve an appallingly slow indoor smokefree pubs/clubs deadline (2007) in the face of near-unanimous public support for a 2005 date.    See  MediaWatch transcript 27/9/04    AHA misleads with scare campaign: see SmokeFree Australia media release 30/9/04      See  SA Taskforce report   SmokeFree ‘03 submission   

TOBACCO'S VENTILATION SCAM
For years the tobacco industry worked to foster "alternatives" to smokefree laws - especially ventilation systems. These have all been thoroughly discredited.

The Dearlove Study, published in the British Medical Journal's Tobacco Control, shows how in Australia, the US, Canada and elsewhere: 

Through the myth of lost profits, the tobacco industry has fooled the hospitality industry into embracing expensive ventilation equipment, while in reality 100% smoke-free laws have been shown to have no effect on business revenues, or even to improve them. 

The truth: ventilation and separation don't work
Ventilation and partition-based options do not protect effectively against the dangers of secondhand smoke - they have been dismissed by independent experts and authoritative health agencies worldwide. The World Health Organisation says:
Smoking bans remain the only viable control measure to ensure that workers and patrons of the hospitality industry are protected from exposure to the toxic wastes from tobacco consumption.

Tobacco giant pushes ventilation scam 
28/1/06: Internal documents from British American Tobacco show the company knew ventilation/filtration schemes were ineffective at removing secondhand smoke, but continued pushing these options through hospitality industry around the world to delay and undermine smokefree venues.  See tobacco.org news 27/1/06  and  full BMJ study 1/06
US ventilation engineers agree: only safe way is to ban smoking
30/6/05: Position paper from the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) concludes that "the only means of effectively eliminating health risk associated with indoor exposure is to ban smoking activity."   See  ASHRAE position document 30/6/05

NSW study: "Smoke-free areas" in licensed venues are ineffective
Feb. '04: A study in NSW licensed clubs shows ventilation and separation are ineffective against harmful secondhand smoke.  The study, published in Tobacco Control (Feb '04) found separate 'no-smoking rooms' provide little or no protection. The study makes clear to Australian governments: the only safe option for licensed premises is speedy and total indoor smoke bans.  Cains, T et al, Tobacco Control (2004) 13:17-22  See SmokeFree Australia media release     See the study abstract

UK/world: Ventilation no match for deadly smoke
Excellent UK compilation of worldwide research concludes you would need extraction of tornado-like proportions to adequately protect.   See report: A Killer on the Loose. Note section 5.1, pp. 15-16, "Why ventilation is not an adequate solution", including striking data from tests in Toronto, Canada,  and Delaware, US.

 

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