ASH Australia media release                                        April 28, 2005

Report slams “responsible” tobacco giant

World protests as tobacco companies’ deeds fail to match words 

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International protests have marked the Annual General Meetings today (April 28) of the world’s two largest tobacco companies, Altria (parent of Philip Morris) and British American Tobacco (BAT).

Demonstrations have been organised by health and consumer groups outside the Altria AGM near New York and the BAT meeting in London; while BAT has been attacked in a new worldwide report for damaging health, development and the environment behind a mask of “corporate social responsibility.”

The report, "BAT in its Own Words" *, was published today by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) UK, Christian Aid and Friends of the Earth. The report uses internal BAT documents to alert shareholders to the company’s sham conduct – showing how, behind a façade of social and environmental responsibility:

• senior BAT executives fought to block the first worldwide treaty to curb the growing tobacco epidemic;
• BAT used support for AIDS prevention in Africa to try to boost its own political influence and downplay tobacco as a major cause of disease and suffering;
• BAT campaigned to discredit and undermine WHO’s medical research into nicotine addiction and the health impacts of secondhand smoke; and
• BAT tried to use codes of conduct, self-regulatory bodies, public reporting and coordinated corporate giving programmes as tactics to pre-empt and delay higher taxes, tobacco advertising bans and restrictions on smoking in public places.

Says Anne Jones, of ASH Australia: 

“In Australia, BAT is well known as the company that destroyed thousands of its own internal documents to hide its embarrassing conduct in promoting its lethal, addictive products.

“While claiming new-found social responsibility, both BAT and Philip Morris continue to use their enormous resources and political influence to block and delay measures to reduce smoking diseases.

“These companies are continuing to reap the ill-gotten gains of the ‘light/mild’ scam, as the majority of Australian smokers have been conned into believing ‘light’ cigarettes are safer and healthier.”

Health groups have grave concerns that current negotiations between the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the tobacco industry to end deceptive conduct do not go far enough, as the Commission has ruled out legal action and the banning of substitute descriptors that are already appearing in retail outlets across the country.

*  "BAT in its Own Words" is online at  www.ash.org.uk/html/conduct/pdfs/bat2005.pdf

Comment:     Anne Jones, CEO, ASH Australia  ph. (02) 9334-1876  m. 0417-227-879

Media inquiries:      Stafford Sanders   ph. (02) 9334-1823   m. 0412-070-194     

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