Related News
Alleged BAT deception smoked out
By Wang Cong |
January 3, 2009, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A GROUP of anti-smoking researchers has uncovered corporate documents that showed a leading tobacco company attempted to divert public attention from the dangers of second-hand smoke with an aim to re-focus China's health policy.
Monique Muggli, a researcher at the Mayo Clinic in the US state of Minnesota, and her colleagues published a research article based on her findings on documents from British American Tobacco.
The previously classified documents were held in depositories in Minnesota and Guildford, in the United Kingdom. The documents has been declassified in response to litigation against BAT.
The primary strategy of BAT, the researchers argued, was to divert public attention from second-hand smoke issues toward diseases unrelated to smoking, such as liver problems.
Another tactic was to urge the avoidance of complete smoking bans in public places including restaurants and airports, asserting that tobacco smoke is just one insignificant source of air pollution and that ventilation and air filtration are sufficient to deal with the problem.
The research was published in the latest issue of the peer-reviewed online academic publication, the Public Library of Science Medicine.
China's Ministry of Health estimated in 2007 that 540 million Chinese were exposed to second-hand smoke, resulting in more than 100,000 deaths annually.
"As highly regulated markets continue to result in decreasing profits for transnational tobacco companies, they will look to less-regulated markets in low to middle-income countries," Dr Kelley Lee at the London-based Center on Global Change and Health, co-author of the thesis, said in an e-mail to Xinhua news agency yesterday.
"Other research has demonstrated that the industry has supported a wide range of charitable activities with the purpose of furthering its own interests," Lee said. "China is the largest cigarette market, with more than 350 million smokers ... (and) transnational tobacco companies are keen to take a larger market share in the future."
BAT was found to have provided funding for a Beijing-based charitable foundation to distract attention away from smoking to non-tobacco-induced liver diseases, among which hepatitis is a major health concern in China. BAT China tried to influence policy makers to put priority on the No. 1 infectious disease ? hepatitis in China, the thesis said.
Meanwhile, the academic article said, additional strategies were launched by BAT aimed at weakening second-hand smoke policies in China. Similar to what the company had done in the UK, for example, BAT sought to promote air filtration technology for hospitality venues and lobbied for separate seating for smokers and non-smokers.
BAT China declined to comment on the PLoS Medicine finding. An e-mail request to BAT's London headquarters for comment did not receive an immediate response.
"Despite the tobacco industry's public efforts to appear socially responsible by supporting charitable organizations, a fundamental conflict exists between the interests of tobacco companies and public health," Lee said.
Long-time anti-smoking activist Gregory Yingnien Tsang said such an attention-shifting ploy is part of a "long-running tactic" used by the tobacco industry in Western countries as well as in emerging economies.
The 76-year-old American-Chinese has been advocating smoking control in public areas in China for the past 17 years.
Although the tobacco industry sponsors sports and charitable activities in China, Tsang said, "what they are really after in the end is publicity and advertising."
Monique Muggli, a researcher at the Mayo Clinic in the US state of Minnesota, and her colleagues published a research article based on her findings on documents from British American Tobacco.
The previously classified documents were held in depositories in Minnesota and Guildford, in the United Kingdom. The documents has been declassified in response to litigation against BAT.
The primary strategy of BAT, the researchers argued, was to divert public attention from second-hand smoke issues toward diseases unrelated to smoking, such as liver problems.
Another tactic was to urge the avoidance of complete smoking bans in public places including restaurants and airports, asserting that tobacco smoke is just one insignificant source of air pollution and that ventilation and air filtration are sufficient to deal with the problem.
The research was published in the latest issue of the peer-reviewed online academic publication, the Public Library of Science Medicine.
China's Ministry of Health estimated in 2007 that 540 million Chinese were exposed to second-hand smoke, resulting in more than 100,000 deaths annually.
"As highly regulated markets continue to result in decreasing profits for transnational tobacco companies, they will look to less-regulated markets in low to middle-income countries," Dr Kelley Lee at the London-based Center on Global Change and Health, co-author of the thesis, said in an e-mail to Xinhua news agency yesterday.
"Other research has demonstrated that the industry has supported a wide range of charitable activities with the purpose of furthering its own interests," Lee said. "China is the largest cigarette market, with more than 350 million smokers ... (and) transnational tobacco companies are keen to take a larger market share in the future."
BAT was found to have provided funding for a Beijing-based charitable foundation to distract attention away from smoking to non-tobacco-induced liver diseases, among which hepatitis is a major health concern in China. BAT China tried to influence policy makers to put priority on the No. 1 infectious disease ? hepatitis in China, the thesis said.
Meanwhile, the academic article said, additional strategies were launched by BAT aimed at weakening second-hand smoke policies in China. Similar to what the company had done in the UK, for example, BAT sought to promote air filtration technology for hospitality venues and lobbied for separate seating for smokers and non-smokers.
BAT China declined to comment on the PLoS Medicine finding. An e-mail request to BAT's London headquarters for comment did not receive an immediate response.
"Despite the tobacco industry's public efforts to appear socially responsible by supporting charitable organizations, a fundamental conflict exists between the interests of tobacco companies and public health," Lee said.
Long-time anti-smoking activist Gregory Yingnien Tsang said such an attention-shifting ploy is part of a "long-running tactic" used by the tobacco industry in Western countries as well as in emerging economies.
The 76-year-old American-Chinese has been advocating smoking control in public areas in China for the past 17 years.
Although the tobacco industry sponsors sports and charitable activities in China, Tsang said, "what they are really after in the end is publicity and advertising."
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
