[Intl-tobacco] Underhand Activities by Tobacco Companies Rife in Former Soviet Union

[robert.weissman@essentialinformation.org]

Underhand Activities by Tobacco Companies Rife in Former Soviet Union -
Newswise
June 1, 2004

British American Tobacco engaged in underhand practices including smuggling=
,
and exploited the weak political and economic situation in the former Sovie=
t
Union to establish cigarette imports and local manufacturing, new research
reveals today.

The revelations, which are published today in a series of papersi, ii, iii
in the journal Tobacco Control ( http://tc.bmjjournals.com/ ), came to ligh=
t
as a result of a review of data on industry investments and their impact on
cigarette production capacity, as well as a meticulous trawl by authors Ann=
a
Gilmore and Martin McKee of the London School of Hygiene  Tropical Medicine
(LSHTM) through hundreds of documents housed within British American Tobacc=
o
(BAT)=92s secretive depository in Guildford, UK.

The authors are calling for a renewed effort to build capacity in transitio=
n
economies so that governments are better able to respond when companies use
business practices that fall short of international standards. =91Countries
targeted by the tobacco industry need to be aware of its tactics and develo=
p
effective tobacco control policies to ensure that vulnerable populations ca=
n
no longer be targeted in the ways detailed in these papers=92, says Dr Anna
Gilmore, a Clinical Lecturer in Public Health and lead author on the papers=
.

The countries of the former Soviet Union (FSU) have been a key focus for
tobacco industry investments over the last decade. Between 1992, when the
first tobacco investments occurred and the end of 2000, transnational
tobacco companies (TTCs) invested at least US$2.7 billion in 10 countries i=
n
the region. These papers detail how they took advantage of a number of key
factors to establish imports: a chaotic tobacco industry, which under the
Soviet system had been state owned; chronic cigarette shortages; a desire
among the population for western goods which were seen as sophisticated and
desirable; and the naivety of the post-Soviet governments as to the
underhand conduct of powerful transnationals.

=91These documents provide key insights into the thinking behind the
transnational tobacco companies=92 focus on the former Soviet Union market,
and highlight the elaborate and devious tactics used to establish imports.
The Guildford papers specifically reveal how BAT exploited chaotic situatio=
n
in the immediate post-transition period to ensure illegal cigarette imports=
,
and how they targeted a susceptible population which was hungry for western
products by equating smoking with western =93sophistication=94=92, says Dr =
Anna
Gilmore.

BAT is revealed to have used flawed economic arguments to persuade
inexperienced and na=EFve governments that allowing them to invest would re=
ap
economic benefits. Company representatives offered misleading excise advice
that actually disadvantaged governments while benefiting BAT. BAT was able
to operate in this manner because international financial organisations suc=
h
as the International Monetary Fund took the view that rapid economic reform
should be actively championed, regardless of the nature of the investing
company or the product it sold.

The Guildford papers also reveal how BAT identified women as an important
new market. Smoking among women had been rare in the FSU, yet BAT noted tha=
t
women, in common with other young smokers, were more likely to smoke
international filter brands rather than locally produced cigarettes. BAT
specifically targeted women in its marketing and female smoking rates are
now rising. Men in the FSU already have the highest rates of premature
mortality in Europe and if female smoking continues to increase, female
death rates from tobacco will certainly rise.

As notable as the industry=92s focus on the economic impacts of tobacco was
the total absence of any debate about tobacco=92s health impacts=92, say th=
e
authors. =91Thus, as far as we can tell, the governments of the newly
independent states received little if any effective tobacco control advice
or appropriate information on the true health and economic impacts of
tobacco=92.

=91BAT is spending heavily on image rehabilitation in an attempt to convinc=
e
us that things are different now, but all the evidence suggests the company
is still operating in the way it always has and is now turning its
attentions towards developing markets elsewhere. The global public health
burden from tobacco is set to double between 2000 and 2030 from 4.9 to 10
million deaths, with the most rapid increases predicted in developing
countries. Such countries need to be vary wary of the predations of BAT and
its competitors=92, concludes Anna Gilmore.

iGilmore A, McKee M;. Tobaco and transition: an overview of industry
investments, impact and influence in the former Soviet Union. Tobacco
Control 2004;12:

iiGilmore A, McKee M. Moving east: how the transational tobacco companies
gained entry to the emerging markets of the former Soviet Union. Part I:
Establishing cigarette imports. Tobacco Control 2004; 12

iiiGilmore A, McKee M. Moving east: how the transnational tobacco companies
gained entry to the emerging markets of the former Soviet Union. Part II: a=
n
overview of priorities and tactics used to establish a manufacturing
presence. Tobacco Control 2004; 12