[Intl-tobacco] Cigarette firms launched secret tactics to fight plain packs, documents show (fwd)

[Robert Weissman]

Here is the first of a series of posts that I'm sending out today from the
past two-plus weeks. Please be careful to check the dates on them.

Robert Weissman
Essential Information			|   Internet:	rob@essential.org

Cigarette firms launched secret tactics to fight plain packs, documents show
Industry moved to harm reputation of health minister
by Mark Kennedy / Ottawa Citizen
Source: National Post, Monday, 1/17/00

OTTAWA - The Canadian tobacco industry secretly mounted a campaign in the
mid-1990s to "undermine" and "attack the motives" of the then federal
health minister when she advocated a plan to strip cigarette packages of
their distinctive labels, internal industry documents reveal.

Health groups say the documents provide a hint of what is to come once
Allan Rock, the Health Minister, unveils a government proposal on
Wednesday to force cigarette makers to place photos of diseased lungs and
cancerous mouths on their packages.

Government insiders and anti-tobacco activists are expecting a fierce
pressure campaign from the tobacco companies to force Mr. Rock to back
down.

"They will put in a full-court press against these measures," says Cynthia
Callard of Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada. "They've done it before,
they'll do it again."

In 1994, the industry was so fearful of the proposal for generic cigarette
packs -- commonly known as plain packaging -- that the tobacco companies
banded together to launch a special "campaign organization" within their
Ottawa-based lobby group, the Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers' Council.

At the time, the Chretien government had just dramatically lowered tobacco
taxes to stop the cross-border smuggling phenomenon. To appease outraged
health groups, the government also said the Commons health committee would
hold public hearings on plain packaging.

It was apparent at the time that the tobacco companies were unsettled by
the notion of being forced to sell their products in similar drab
packages, with no distinctive colours or markings to make them attractive
to smokers.

But only now is it clear how worried they were. Last year, as part of a
U.S. lawsuit settlement, the companies were forced to file previously
secret internal documents in public depositories in England and Minnesota.
It is from the British depository that the files on plain packaging have
emerged.

They show how the Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers' Council established a
special squad -- organized "much along the lines of a political campaign"
-- to stop plain packaging.

Among the pressure tactics they formulated:

- They used so-called "third-party" allies with more public respectability
(printing companies, retailers and union officials) to help wage the
tobacco companies' battle, including helping them write the presentations
they delivered to the Commons committee. Those groups warned of job losses
if generic packages were adopted.

- They curried favour with "selected" journalists to ensure sympathetic
media coverage.

- They "targeted" certain cabinet ministers and Liberal caucus members to
be hit with "continuing pressure from appropriate sources."

But perhaps most revealing is how the industry moved beyond arguing its
case on the merits to discredit the personal reputation of Diane Marleau,
then health minister.

One document that outlined the various tactics to be pursued by the
industry's internal group noted that it would "feed selected journalists
material attacking motives of [the] health minister and undermining
credibility of [the] anti-smoking lobby."

The Commons health committee issued a report that endorsed plain
packaging, but Ms. Marleau decided not to move until she had the results
of a special study that her department commissioned.

According to the internal industry documents, Ms. Marleau had been given a
"blank cheque" by the committee and it was "inconceivable" the study would
oppose plain packaging.

Under the heading "strategic considerations," the document noted that Ms.
Marleau would likely present draft legislation on plain packaging to the
caucus and cabinet.

"This dictates two basic strategic approaches," the document concluded.
One approach was to continue the pressure campaign on Liberal MPs and
cabinet. The other was "undermining [the] credibility of the study and
minister on the grounds it is rigged."

Ultimately, the study did support plain packaging. But just a few months
after it was released, the momentum toward plain packaging hit a sudden
halt. The Supreme Court of Canada released a decision that struck down
previous legislation that banned tobacco advertisements.

The government focused on recovering lost ground through a new bill that
would set limits on how the industry used sponsorships of arts and sports
groups to create "lifestyle ads."