Tobacco Explained

The truth about the tobacco industry
...in its own words

Action on Smoking and Health
102 Clifton Street
London EC2A 4HW

Cartoon by Dan Wasserman reproduced with permission of the Los Angeles Times Syndicate

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Summary

Thousands of internal tobacco industry documents released through litigation and whistleblowers reveal the most astonishing systematic corporate deceit of all time. ASH has undertaken a survey of the documents, extracted 1,200 relevant and revealing quotes, and grouped these together under common themes. A subset of these are set out in this compendium and the full collection is held in chronologies available on the ASH web site.

Chapter 1 Smoking and health Publicly the industry denied and continues to deny that it is clear that smoking causes lung cancer - yet it has understood the carcinogenic nature of its product since the 1950s. It is now clear that the industry’s stance on smoking and health is determined by lawyers and public relations concerns.

Chapter 2 Nicotine and addiction Until recently the industry has denied its product is addictive. Most recently it has used a definition of addictiveness so broad that it encompasses shopping and the Internet. Internally, it has known since the 1960s that the crucial selling point of its product is the chemical dependence of its customers. Without nicotine addiction there would be no tobacco industry. Nicotine addiction destroys the industry’s PR and legal stance that smoking is a matter of choice.

Chapter 3 Marketing to children The companies deny that they target the young. The documents reveal the obvious - that the market of young smokers is of central importance to the industry. Many documents reveals the companies’ pre-occupation with teenagers and younger children - and the lengths they have gone to in order to influence smoking behaviour in this age group.

Chapter 4 Advertising The industry maintains that advertising is used only to fight for brand share and that it does not increase total consumption - academic research shows otherwise. The documents show that advertising is crucial in nurturing the motivation to smoke by creating or projecting the positive values, such as independence, machismo, glamour or intelligence, erroneously associated with the product.

Chapter 5 Cigarette design The documents show that the companies initially hoped to make safer cigarettes, but then abandoned the enterprise when it recognised that this would expose their existing products as `unsafe’. The industry has deliberately promoted ‘low-tar’ cigarettes knowing that they would offer false reassurance without health benefits. It has manipulated nicotine and introduced additives to change the delivery of nicotine. It recognises the cigarette as a drug delivery device.

Chapter 6 Passive smoking The industry is challenged by passive smoking in two way. First, measures to protect non-smokers will reduce the opportunities to smoke and contribute to its social unacceptability. Second, the ‘freedom to smoke’ arguments are confounded if non-smokers are harmed. The industry has refused to accept the now overwhelming consensus regarding the harm caused by passive smoking - instead it has denied and obfuscated, and sought to influence debate by buying up scientists on a spectacular scale.

Chapter 7 "Emerging markets" Faced with reducing levels of smoking in the West and an insatiable need for money, the companies have moved aggressively into developing countries and Eastern Europe. The documents reveal an arrogance and fanaticism that has imperialist echoes.

Chapter 8 "Big Tobacco and Women: what the tobacco industry thinks about women.... in its own words" This report is a supplement to ASH's Tobacco Explained research project which is a survey of thousands of tobacco industry documents that have been revealed in the course of litigation in the United States. For this supplement we have examined the documents that describe the tobacco industry's approach to women.

Two views of the tobacco industry

Justification for taking strong measures against the tobacco industry must be based on facts and realities that command wide assent. Ten ‘facts and realities’ justified by the tobacco industry’s own documents, are set out below. The industry should now be required to admit these:

1. That smoking causes many kinds of cancer, heart disease and respiratory illnesses which are fatal for many sufferers. The industry still does not publicly accept that smoking causes lung cancer.
   
   
2. That annual premature death toll caused by smoking in the UK is in excess of 100,000 and that the risk of premature death to a long term smoker is approximately 1 in 2.
   
   
3. That nicotine is the most important active ingredient in tobacco; that the tobacco companies are in the drug business; the drug is nicotine and that the cigarette is a drug delivery device. The industry maintains it is a simple consumer goods industry.
   
   
4. That nicotine is physiologically and psychologically addictive, in a similar way to heroin and cocaine - rather than shopping, chocolate or the Internet. The overwhelming majority of smokers are strongly dependent on nicotine and that this is a substantial block to smokers’ quitting if they choose to. The industry still maintains that nicotine is not addictive in the sense used here.
   
   
5. That teenagers (13-18) and children (<13) are inherently important to the tobacco market and that companies are competing for market share in these age groups. The industry maintains that its business is only focussed on adults.
   
   
6. That advertising increases total consumption as well as promoting brand share. The industry flatly denies this.
   
   
7. That advertising is one (of several) important and interlocking ingredients that nurture smoking behaviour among teenagers and children. The industry denies its advertising influences the smoking behaviour of children.
   
   
8. That current formulations of low tar cigarettes create false health reassurance and offer little or no health benefit. The industry has either not publicly accepted this or argued that it never claimed any health benefits.
   
   
9. That passive smoking is real public health hazard, including causing childhood diseases such as asthma, bronchitis, cot-death and glue ear, and is a cause of lung cancer and heart disease in adults. The industry has mounted a major disinformation campaign in this area.
   
   
10. That the tobacco industry has the normal duty of any manufacturer to ensure that it does not market a defective product and that its products are as safe as possible.

What should be done?

The Government’s Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health (SCOTH) reported in March 1998. A key recommendation was:

The Government should require of the tobacco industry:

Independently of specific governmental regulations, tobacco manufacturers should comply with these requirements. Report of the Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health, March 1998, page9.

About this report

Table of contents

  1 Smoking and health

1.1 Summary
1.2 What is known - key facts on smoking and health
1.3 What the industry knew and what it said
1.4 References

2 Nicotine and addiction

2.1 Summary
2.2 What is known - key facts about nicotine addiction
2.3 What the industry said and what it knew
2.4 References

3 Marketing to children

3.1 Summary
3.2 What is known - key facts about marketing to children
3.3 What the industry said and what it knew
3.4 References

4 Advertising

4.1 Summary
4.2 What is known - key facts on advertising and smoking
4.3 What the industry said and what it knew
4.4 References

5 Cigarette design: additives, low-tar and 'safe' cigarettes

5.1 Summary
5.2 What is known - key facts on low tar and safe cigarettes
5.3 What the tobacco industry said and what it knew
5.4 References

6 Passive smoking

6.1 Summary
6.2 What is known - key facts about passive smoking
6.3 What the tobacco industry said and what it knew
6.4 References

7 "Emerging markets"

7.1 Summary
7.2 What is known - key facts about the move into developing countries
7.3 What the tobacco industry said and what it knew
7.4 References

8 "Big Tobacco and Women"

1 Summary
2 What is known - key facts on smoking and women
3 What the industry said and what it knew
3.1 Marketing to women
3.2 Targeting young women and new smokers
3.3 Targeting minorities
3.4 Targeting unemployed and low income women
3.5 Women and 'lights'
3.6 Women, smoking and health
3.7 Marketing to women in the third world
4 References

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