[Intl-tobacco] Barbados: PAHO on BAT conspiracy on ETS

[Robert Weissman]

TOBACCO CONSPIRACY? - Barbados Advocate

 Sunday, January 12, 2003

 By Dawne Bennett
 THE leader in the local tobacco market, British American Tobacco (BAT)
has been accused by the Pan-American Health
 Organisation (PAHO) of hiring scientists throughout the Caribbean and
Latin America to deceive the public about the link
 between second-hand smoke and lung cancer and other diseases.

 But neither confirming nor denying the accusation, BAT contended that
claims suggesting second-hand smoke is a cause of
 chronic disease are not supported by the science developed over the
past 20 years.

 After a one-year investigation of more than 10 000 pages of internal
documents from BAT and another leading tobacco
 manufacturer, Philip Morris International, the "Profits Over People"
report concluded that the companies developed the
 Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) project and hired consultants to
mislead the public, media and policy makers about
 second-hand smoke. The report released in November 2002 suggested that
the companies' motive was to counter the threat of
 possible public and workplace smoking restrictions in Latin America and
the Caribbean where concerns were being raised about
 the dangers of second-hand smoke.

 "The key tasks of the consultants were to contest the growing evidence
of a link between second-hand smoke and diseases, shift
 the debate to other issues affecting indoor air quality and, after
denying that second-hand smoke caused any problems at all,
 propose as a solution shared smoking and non-smoking sections that
would accommodate all concerned," stated the report
 commissioned by PAHO and written by researchers, Stella Aguinaga
Bialous and Stan Shatenstein.

 It continued that paramount to the success of the project, the industry
stressed the need for absolute secrecy regarding its funding
 and support for the consultants.

 In fact, one BAT letter used in the investigation stated the "absolute
necessity for the industry to have no direct contact with these
 scientists that are part of the programme...If one scientist in the
group is perceived by anyone to be associated with the industry,
 then we run the risk, by association, of this happening for the rest of
the group and the whole exercise will become pointless".

 When contacted by the Barbados Advocate, BAT referred this newspaper to
its web site which stated that it has not been
 established that exposure to ETS genuinely increases the risk of
non-smokers developing lung cancer, heart disease or chronic
 obstructive pulmonary disease.

 Still, the company stated that it wanted to work with Government and
other interested parties to support initiatives that aim to
 reduce exposure to ETS.

 "Recognising the comfort of the public, BAT Barbados has participated
in the past in efforts to provide information to
 stakeholders on improvements in ventilation within public buildings so
as to allow venues to accommodate both smokers and
 non-smokers. This is on record," Corporate and Regulatory Affairs
Executive at the BAT Barbados office, Fay Best-Walker
 stated in a response to questions from the Advocate.

 One of the other findings of the report was that BAT proposed seminars
and individual journalist briefings in the
 English-speaking Caribbean, including Barbados, with the goal of
tilting journalists' opinion in favour of the industry.

 However, Best-Walker indicated that at the last of three media
conferences held in conjunction with the Media Association of
 Trinidad and Tobago, PAHO, BAT and media representatives exchanged
ideas on tobacco and discussed issues relating to
 smoking and health.

 Research by this newspaper revealed that BAT came under fire during
that last media forum in 2000 and when Head of Science
 and Regulation at BAT, Chris Proctor proposed a collaborative effort
between the industry, WHO and respective governments,
 PAHO/WHO representative Heather Seline (sic) said the industry and her
organisation did not share a common goal.

 PAHO's report also stated that BAT's youth smoking prevention campaigns
were nothing more than public relations efforts.
 According to the report, reducing youth smoking was never mentioned in
company documents as the goal. In fact, the campaigns
 were "intended to '...position the industry as a concerned corporate
citizen' in an effort to ward off further attacks by the
 anti-tobacco movement".

 Claiming that far from paying lip service to anti-youth smoking,
Best-Walker said BAT submitted a proposal to Barbados'
 government to consider more preventative measures to ensure young
people do not smoke.

 "Clearly, BAT believes that youth should not smoke, and wherever
possible this message is communicated," she stated.

 BAT Barbados provides Benson and Hedges, Kool, Newport, Embassy,
Dunhill, Silk Cut and Lucky Strikes cigarette brands to
 the local market through its distributor, Brydens Barbarees Ltd.

 http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/[...]eft.cfm?Record=11506