[Intl-tobacco] Philip Morris official: We'll help Israel prevent smoking among minors

[Robert Weissman]

Philip Morris official: We'll help Israel prevent smoking among minors
by Judy Siegel
Source: Jerusalem Post, Tuesday, 9/19/00

A senior official of Philip Morris International appeared yesterday before
the government-appointed committee to reduce cigarette smoking and
declared his company wants to "help Israel" prevent smoking among children
and teenagers and to promote legislation here that would bar tobacco sales
to minors.

However, in an exclusive interview with The Jerusalem Post, David
Greenberg said that anyone over the age of 18 is "an adult and has free
choice whether to smoke or not." He conceded that the tobacco company -
the largest cigarette manufacturer in the world - had no intention of
financing public service announcements or information campaigns to
discourage smoking among anyone over 18.

Greenberg is senior vice president of Philip Morris International. He was
a guest of the Gillon Committee, established a year ago by then-health
minister Shlomo Benizri to study ways to reduce smoking in Israel. He was
the sole witness yesterday, and spoke for more than two hours.

Judge Alon Gillon, a former heavy smoker and cancer survivor and now a
vociferous tobacco opponent, had invited Philip Morris to send a
representative to address the committee.

Greenberg pointed out that in Israel, Philip Morris "voluntarily puts
labels on our cigarette packs that our products are 'intended for sale to
adults only,'"  even though there is as yet no law that bars their sale to
people over 18.

"Philip Morris does not want youth to smoke" because minors are not in a
position to choose, Greenberg said. But when asked by The Post about
health damage to children (or fetuses) whose parents smoke and who have no
say in the matter, Greenberg declared that "parents must show
responsibility."

Anti-smoking activists told The Post that although Greenberg works for the
subsidiary that markets cigarettes outside the US, he has no say in the US
company that actually manufactures them and could conceivably change its
policies regarding the addition of even more harmful and addictive
substances.

Greenberg, 46 and a Jewish native of Missouri, told The Post that he
started smoking at age 12 but quit, and that he does not want his children
to smoke.  His father-in-law, a heavy smoker, died of lung cancer.

"But an adult is free to decide. Most people oppose a law that would bar
the manufacture and sale of cigarettes," he added, pointing to the failure
of Prohibition in the US.

The Israel Cancer Association, which sent a representative to the hearing,
said it was pleased that a senior official from the world's largest
tobacco manufacturer finally admits that their product is deadly. But
while it is good that the company says it opposes smoking by minors,
without a comprehensive campaign there would not be much impact, the ICA
said. "Most adult smokers became addicted when they were children, and
even adults are unable to withstand advertisements that present smoking as
an unadulterated pleasure."

Rabbi Yehezkel Ashayek, personal secretary of Rabbi Eliezer Schach of Bnei
Brak and board member of Degel Hatorah's newspaper Yated Ne'eman, was
present at the meeting and reacted angrily to Greenberg's statements."We
don't want money to be accepted from Philip Morris for educational
problems. They can be sued for damages, but just as Israel didn't take
money from Germany while they were still murdering Jews, we should not
take money from tobacco companies while they are still killing people.
There is no room for dialogue with them; we must battle against them
because their products cause so much suffering and death."