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BIG TOBACCO AND ITS ALLIES MISLEAD PUBLIC AND MPs |
BIG TOBACCO HIDES THE TRUTH, MANIPULATES AND SCARES HOSPITALITY
INDUSTRY
Formerly
secret tobacco industry documents show they've worked behind the scenes to hide
the harm from secondhand smoke - and to confuse proprietors, governments and the public, with the sole aim of delaying
smoking bans by pushing ineffective ventilation-based options.
STOP PRESS:
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
BIG TOBACCO'S VENTILATION SCAM
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.
See the Economic
Evidence More on Big Tobacco’s
tactics at the TobaccoScam
website.
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
Toxic danger
remains in partly smoky Australian venues
Sept. '02: Dangerous levels of toxic smoke remain in
"no smoking" areas of pubs, clubs and cafes.
See abstract
of Australian study by Cenko and Pisaniello (Adelaide University).
ACT study: "Smoke-free areas" in
exempt workplaces do not protect
An ACT government air quality study of
"smokefree areas" in smokefree-exempt workplaces shows smoke in 80%.
The government concludes that the exemption arrangements "have failed to
protect from health risks." See the ACT
report and government response
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.
EU: Study says
ventilation doesn't work
2003 study by the Joint Research Centre
of the European Union says passive smoke carries higher risks
than previously thought - and efforts to reduce it by increasing ventilation
offer little or no measurable improvement. See
press
release
Ventilation
fact sheet (US)
May 2004 compendium of research,
scientific and business conclusions - from Americans for Non-Smokers'
Rights.
MORE DIRTY TRICKS OF BIG TOBACCO AND ITS ALLIES
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
SA: AHA's pro-smoky cash for comment outed on MediaWatch
27/9/04: The
Australian Hotels Association has been 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 has influenced the SA government to achieve
an appallingly late smokefree pubs/clubs deadline (Oct. 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