Smokes giant in charity row (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

Smokes giant in charity row
by VICTORIA BUTTON/    MEDICAL REPORTER 
Source: The Age, Friday, 10/22/99

Prominent Australian charities involved in medical research and health
care have complained about a corporate brochure linking them with the
world's largest tobacco company, Philip Morris.

The brochure, featuring photographs of products including cigarettes,
identified the charities as "recipients of support or sponsorship from
Philip Morris and its operating companies in Australia".

Among the groups mentioned are charities that do cancer research,
investigate sudden infant death syndrome, support a hospital and house
families with children in hospital. Some of the groups yesterday attacked
the brochure as misleading, saying they had dealt with Kraft Foods - a
Philip Morris operating company - or with Philip Morris employees acting
in a personal capacity, not for the company.

The executive director of the Quit organisation, Mr Todd Harper, said the
brochure's use of Kraft-sponsored groups was unscrupulous. "The most
galling part of it for me is the way they target health issues for which
tobacco is one of the leading causes in the first place and it's quite
duplicitous."

The Sudden Infant Death Research Foundation said it would never knowingly
take money from a tobacco company because smoking was a major risk factor
for SIDS.

"Our name and our cause has been misused," said the executive director of
the foundation, Ms Kaarene Fitzgerald.

The connection arose because the foundation had unwittingly solicited two
giant bars of Toblerone chocolate - a Philip Morris-owned brand - to
auction for fund raising. She vowed to return the money raised and request
that the reference on the brochure be dropped.

The Children's Medical Research Institute said neither Philip Morris nor
Kraft supported the charity but that company employees had taken part in a
fund-raising project, Jeans for Genes, raising about $3000 over two years.
"We just don't get involved in tobacco companies at all," said a spokesman
for the institute, Mr Stephen Ryall.

The brochure also claims support for "Heartwell Fitness Campaign", a joint
charity of the Royal Children's Hospital Foundation and a commercial
rehabilitation company, Heartwell. The money came from Kraft, but a
hospital spokeswoman said the hospital had not been aware that Philip
Morris owned Kraft.

The director of public affairs at McDonald's Australia, Mr John Blyth,
said the company had a longstanding relationship with Kraft, which
supplied cheese for hamburgers, and supported the company's charity work
in running houses for the families of children in hospital.

The relationship had started before Philip Morris took over Kraft, he
said. "We don't talk with anyone at Philip Morris."

But a State Government body, the Royal Botanic Gardens, defended its
sponsorship from Philip Morris of a new sculpture and temporary sculpture
walk, and said the brochure's mention of the relationship was legitimate.

The corporate communications manager of Philip Morris, Ms Nerida White,
expressed disappointment at the response of the charities. "I think it's a
shame that they feel that way," she said.

The brochure was distributed "privately", for example to guests at Philip
Morris functions, she said. It was possible that thousands, but not tens
of thousands, were printed. The brochure, dated December 1998, had
recently been updated.