Who, me, an activist?

Debra Efroymson (Nga)

Regional Director

PATH Canada, Dhaka

Why is tobacco control needed?

Tobacco control for…health

4,000 chemicals in tobacco smokeOver 40 known carcinogens in tobacco smokeCauses many kinds of cancer, plus heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease, etc. etc.Biggest cause of preventable deathTakes on average 8 years of life from smokersCauses many diseases in non-smokers exposed to smoke

Tobacco control for…environment

Trees cut down to create land to plant tobacco

Trees cut down to dry tobacco

Chemical wastes from tobacco production pollute land and water

Fires caused by smoking

Smoking main cause of indoor air pollution

Tobacco control for…economy

Foreign exchange wasted importing tobaccoMoney not spent on tobacco can be invested in the economy, creating more jobs and improving lifeHealth care costs, lost productivityTobacco mostly consumed by those who can least afford it—further drain on resources for the poorest

Tobacco control because…I’m angry!

Who is stronger: government or the tobacco industry?

Does an industry have the right to tell lies and deceive people?

Does an industry have the right to market a deadly, addictive product?

Why I’m angry at the tobacco industry: they…

Lied about health effects for decades

Market to young people and lie about it

Lied about tobacco being addictive

Lied about low-tar cigarettes being healthier

Continue to lie about passive smoking

More reasons!

Buy off other industries (hospitality, advertising)

Try to stop governments from passing law

Are active in smuggling cigarettes

Pretend to represent farmers

Run counter-effective youth prevention programs

Have tried to infiltrate the WHO

Health effects

In 1950s tobacco industry knew smoking caused cancer; denied it for decades

“The problem is how do you sell death? How do you sell poison that kills 350,000 people per year, 1,000 people a day?”—former marketing consultant to 5 tobacco companies

Targeting youth

“…the base of our business is the high school student.” (Lorillard, 1978)“The loss of younger adult males and teenagers is more important to the long term, drying up the supply of new smokers to replace the old. This is not a fixed loss to the industry: its importance increases with time.” (RJR 1982)

Addictiveness of tobacco

“Nicotine is addictive. We are, then, in the business of selling nicotine—an addictive drug…” (B&W 1963)

“…BAT should learn to look at itself as a drug company rather than as a tobacco company.” (BAT 1980)

Low tar (light) cigarettes

Industry wish: “reassure the consumer that these brands are relatively more ‘healthy’” (BAT 1971)Despite industry claims and suggestions, “…the effect of switching to low tar cigarettes may be to increase, not decrease, the risks of smoking.” Tobacco Advisory Council, 1979

Passive smoking

Philip Morris spent millions of dollars in the 1990s to undermine a study on the dangers of passive smoking

“Our objective is to limit the introduction and spread of smoking restrictions and maintain the widespread social acceptability of smoking in Asia.” (PM 1989)

Threatening politicians

“Let politicians know the down-side of anti-activity by identifying a vulnerable candidate, bringing forces to bear to cause him/her to lose the election, then discreetly let other politicians know we have done this.” (PM 1987)

Smuggling

“Following a loss of share in 1992, ITL rebounded by making its major trademarks available in smuggled channels…” (Imperial Tobacco, 1994)

Farmers

Established the International Tobacco Growers’ Association (ITGA) as an industry front group (work done by an ad agency in England, not by farmers)

“…support of the Growers will be invaluable in our continued battle with critics of the industry…” (BAT 1988)

In fact, most farmers are very poor

Youth

Brown & Williamson “will not support a youth smoking program which discourages young people from smoking.” (Tobacco Institute 1983)

“They make the cigarettes, then tell us not to smoke them—isn’t there any other target for their mischief?”—15-year old male student in Bangladesh

WHO

Spend millions attacking and fighting the WHO

“Paul has managed to persuade PAHO to take tobacco off their list of priorities for this year.” (BAT 1991)

ConclusionTobacco control because:

Tobacco kills those who buy it

Tobacco smoke hurts and kills those exposed to it

Tobacco cultivation harms the environment

Tobacco harms economies (individual, family, national)

The tobacco industry can’t be trusted

Thanks!