The Tobacco Industry

Both overseas and in Australia, the tobacco industry has a long record of death, disease, consumer fraud, targeting of the vulnerable, and deceiving governments and the public.

Despite claiming to be concerned with "social responsibility" and "harm reduction", the industry continues to mislead, deceive and cover up the carnage caused by its deadly and addictive product; refuses to take responsibility for the consequences of the product it continues to market; continues to pursue marketing strategies leading to high youth uptake; and lobbies governments and industry groups to block, delay and water down measures which would help reduce smoking and harm from involuntary exposure to secondhand smoke.

See latest  Tobacco industry news - the misdeeds, cover-ups, illegality.

BIG T COVERS ITS TRACKS

Smoker reassurance campaigns 
For over 30 years, the Anglo-American tobacco giants engaged in an international cover-up of what they knew about their lethal and addictive products - to protect their profits. See how the worldwide conspiracy was formed, implemented and played out in Australia.

Diary of Denial  
Reveals who in the tobacco industry said what and when - to deny, delay, and defer government action that could have saved thousands of lives and millions of dollars associated with tobacco deaths, diseases and disability. Find out how far back the industry knew tobacco was addictive and harmful - and more on whether the tobacco industry has changed.

The Berkshire Chronicles
In their own words, see the industry documents showing how tobacco companies collaborated since 1969 to create a unified position on tobacco and health - not only between the different companies operating within Australia but with their international masters in the UK and USA.

 

REPORTS AND RESOURCES

Chapman S. International tobacco control should repudiate Jekyll and Hyde health philanthropy. Tobacco Control 2008;17:1 (this is an editorial which  calls on health workers to have nothing to do with  a $10 billion health & development charity established by the world's richest man, Mexican Carlos Slim. Slim has major involvement in Mexico's largest tobacco company and is an "active partner" with Philip Morris.)

Tobacco giant BATtered by damning report 
21/4/04: Death, damage, exploitation - all in a year's work for "responsible" company British American Tobacco. See this worldwide report.

Big Tobacco still wields Big Clout, 40 Years On
13/1/04: 40 years after the '63 US Surgeon-General's report, US and Australian media articles look at where the fight against tobacco has come to.

Smuggling, criminal networks and the tobacco industry  
Report on the involvement of the tobacco industry in smuggling.

Corporations that Kill: The Criminal Liability of Tobacco Manufacturers,  
by J Liberman & J Clough. A recently published paper making the case for tobacco industry criminal liability and outlining policy implications. First published in the Criminal Law Journal,  Aug 2002, 26 (4) Lawbook Co. Sydney.

MORE TOBACCO TRICKS

Promoting tobacco to the young in the age of advertising bans
Despite advertising bans, the tobacco industry is still using a range of channels - film, fashion, music and publications - to hook their mostly young target markets.  This 2004 article by ASH and The Cancer Council NSW.  Edited version also published in NSW Public Health Bulletin 15(5-6) May-June 2004.

Tobacco's latest marketing strategies 
See some of the slinky new ploys by tobacco companies to get around those inconvenient advertising laws.

Tobacco Industry Tracking Database 
A unique and powerful resource for researchers, public health professionals, lawyers and journalists, the ANR Foundation’s Tobacco Industry Tracking Database© is a collection of information on the activities of the tobacco industry and its allies. Features specialists index and abstract a wide range of documents to help guide your research, uncover the players, connect the dots, and clear the smokescreen clouding the big picture.

WHO'S WHO IN BIG T

See some of the Australian faces in tobacco industry history, including:

• Nick Greiner (former BATA Chairman and former NSW Premier)
• Stuart Watterton (long-serving BAT executive)
• Geoffrey Bible (the Australian who formerly chaired Philip Morris International)
• Nick Cannar (former managing Director of Imperial Tobacco Australia and former legal counsel to BAT). 

See some pics of tobacco bigwigs at the  Sydney Uni tobacco supersite 

Check the sites of Australia's dominant tobacco giants:

• Philip Morris (holds 38% market share)

• British American Tobacco (Australasia) (45% market share)
• Imperial Tobacco (the most recent entry to the Australian market with around 6.4% of market share).

THE DIRTY MONEY TRAIL

Tobacco industry statistics and background
From the VicHealth Centre for Tobacco Control (VCTC): updated figures on
current cigarette prices, tax levels, and revenue to governments;
figures on tobacco imports; other legal, economic & social info.

The VCTC's Industry Watch also has a list of brands and their manufacturers, the industry's position on key issues, links to financial reports and investor information for BAT and Philip Morris and a section on tobacco document research.

Political donations from tobacco interests
Political donations from tobacco companies and other tobacco-friendly interests all give large donations to the big political parties. See roundup of NSW political donations on the NSW Greens website. MPs should be questioned and challenged about accepting funds from tobacco interests.

Internal tobacco industry documents reveal Australian tobacco companies were part of an global conspiracy to delay product liability and government regulation of tobacco products for decades.

MORE INFORMATION  

Please tell us the TRUTH, Philip Morris
2005 ASH factsheet featuring difficult questions we put to a Philip Morris exec at the National Press Club.

For summary and misdeeds up to mid-2002, see our Tobacco Facts (June 2002). 
But note the update on the appeal in the McCabe vs BAT case: download Brief Analysis (pdf 212kb) or more detailed analysis (272kb).   Note that despite the appeal result, the finding that BAT had destroyed large numbers of embarrassing documents was not reversed.

The University of Sydney's Tobacco Control Supersite, maintained by its Tobacco Industry Documents Project Team and frequently updated, contains new databases, summaries and access to pdfs of previously secret tobacco industry documents revealing some of their most outrageous misdeeds.

 Page last updated on 26/8/08