[Intl-tobacco] Report on Tobacco Industry Treatment of Farmers in Brazil

[Robert Weissman]

 Monday 4 February 2002

CHRISTIAN AID CALLS FOR GLOBAL  REGULATION OF TOBACCO INDUSTRY

Brazilian tobacco farmer sues BAT subsidiary. New report from Christian Aid
raises concerns over the safety of growing tobacco.

A tobacco farmer who claims he has been made permanently ill as a result of
growing tobacco is taking Souza Cruz, the Brazilian subsidiary of British
American Tobacco (BAT), to court.

José Wanderlei da Silva, a 32-year-old farmer who grew tobacco under
contract to Souza Cruz until 2000, believes the pesticides he was sold by
the company have left him permanently unable to work.  He now suffers from
severe depression and has a condition similar to chronic fatigue syndrome.
Souza Cruz denies responsibility saying Wanderlei da Silva was an
independent contractor, not an employee. They also say they gave him
training, advice and proper protective clothing was made available to him.

Wanderlei da Silva*s story is told in a new report from Christian Aid,
Hooked on Tobacco, which raises serious concerns about the health and safety
of farmers working for Souza Cruz in southern Brazil.  The report also shows
that farmers in Brazil believe that they receive an unfair price for their
tobacco. It accuses British American Tobacco, a powerful multi-national
company, of failing to live up to its own standards of corporate social
responsibility.

*José Wanderlei da Silva*s story raises important concerns about the health
and safety of BAT*s contract tobacco farmers in Brazil,* says Andrew
Pendleton, author of the new report.  *But Christian Aid*s report indicates
that his case may be the tip of the iceberg. Many farmers say they
suffer a
catalogue of similar illnesses which seem to be related to the
tobacco-growing season.  Christian Aid is calling for an independent
scientific study to establish the extent of the damage to their health.*

Christian Aid*s report is published as a result of a two-year investigation
into the relationship between BAT's subsidiary, Souza Cruz, and the farmers
it contracts to grow tobacco.  As well as concerns about ill-health from
pesticide use, the report illustrates how farmers become hooked by
credit on
the company's prescriptive system of growing tobacco.

The report investigates concerns from farmers that:

-- Souza Cruz profits from selling pesticides to the farmers but fails to
guarantee appropriate standards of safe use on their farms.
-- Souza Cruz underwrites the cost of loans to farmers by claiming Brazilian
government credit in their name, sometimes without the farmer*s knowledge.
-- Souza Cruz contracts farmers to grow exclusively for the company, but
then pays what many farmers believe is a poor price for their tobacco.
-- Many farmers cannot afford to employ extra labour at harvest time and
have to enlist the help of the whole family, which risks their children
coming into contact with pesticides.

*BAT makes ambitious claims about its responsible behaviour but, through its
Brazilian subsidiary, is not meeting those standards,* says Andrew
Pendleton. *Christian Aid believes that global corporations must be held
legally accountable at a global level for their own actions and those of
their subsidiaries.*

Ends


Notes to editors

1. Downloadable photographs, factfiles and stories of individual farmers are
available to journalists on Christian Aid*s website.  These are not publicly
available so please call the number below for more information.
2. Hooked on Tobacco is launched as part of Christian Aid*s Trade for Life
campaign which is arguing for a world trading system which explicitly and
deliberately works to promote the interests of the poor. A key dimension of
this is Christian Aid's call for the establishment of international, legally
 binding regulation of trans-national corporations (TNCs) to set minimum
human rights and environmental standards.
3. Souza Cruz is a 74 per cent owned subsidiary of British American Tobacco
and also uses the same corporate logo and colours.  It directly contracts
over 45,000 small-scale family farmers in Brazil who cultivate, on average,
fewer than two hectares.
4. Christian Aid is currently participating in Public Eye on Davos, the
counter summit to the World Economic Forum in New York, and the World Social
Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil.  At both it will present proposals for
legally-binding, international regulation to hold companies accountable on
human rights and environmental standards.

To read Hooked on Tobacco visit www.christian-aid.org

For more information please contact Andrew Pendleton in New York on 44 077
20 813 865 or Jasper Corbett in London on 44 (0)20 7523 2420 or 44 (0) 7850
242950.