OBJECTIVE To learn how underage youth have been regarded by the major tobacco companies, as revealed in industry documents during the Minnesota litigation. DATA SOURCES Documents from Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp, Lorillard Tobacco Co, Philip Morris Inc, and R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. STUDY SELECTION Documents available from the State of Minnesota and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnes...

FINANCIAL TIES BETWEEN COMPAniesproducingaddictive tobacco productsandcompaniesproducing drugs to treat or alleviate the addiction are a potential conflict of interest.Several typesof financial tiescanexist. For example, one company could be the sole supplier of a product that is needed by another company. Or, a company could be financially dependent on sales fromanothercompany.Corporatediversi...

BACKGROUND Defining harm reduction and regulating potentially reduced exposure products (PREPs), including low nicotine products, are key issues in tobacco control policy. The US Congress has been considering legislation authorising the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate tobacco products. OBJECTIVE To investigate tobacco industry perceptions, interests, motivations, and knowledge ...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the processes and outcomes of tobacco litigation in Argentina and to analyse the strategies of the tobacco industry to oppose litigation using tobacco industry documents. METHODS A systematic search of tobacco industry documents on the internet dating from 1978 to 2002. Law library searches using Argentinean official and unofficial reports systems were combined with comp...

BACKGROUND The actions of policymakers are critical to advancing tobacco control. To evaluate the feasibility of using anonymous in-depth interviews to ascertain policymakers' knowledge about, and attitudes to, the tobacco industry, we undertook a pilot study involving New Zealand policymakers. METHODS Five politicians (from different political parties) and five senior officials, who were inv...

BACKGROUND The Framework Convention of Tobacco Control (FCTC) provides a basis for nation states to limit the political effects of tobacco industry philanthropy, yet progress in this area is limited. This paper aims to integrate the findings of previous studies on tobacco industry philanthropy with a new analysis of British American Tobacco's (BAT) record of charitable giving to develop a gener...

BACKGROUND Tobacco taxes are one of the most effective ways to reduce tobacco use. Transnational tobacco companies (TTCs) claim they wish to develop and secure excise systems that benefit both governments and the profitability of the companies themselves. The objective of the paper is to use the case of Ukraine, with its inconsistent history of excise tax changes in 1992-2008, to explore tobacc...

OBJECTIVE The death of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has offered many opportunities to reappraise her career. However it is not widely known that she acted as a consultant for the tobacco industry following her resignation from office. The availability of evidence from tobacco documents archives offers the opportunity to explore her work for Philip Morris, and more generally t...

While the 'low-tar' scheme has been widely recognised as a misleading tactic used by the tobacco industry to deceive the public about the true risks of cigarette smoking, a similar campaign using the slogan of 'less harmful, low tar' was launched by the Chinese tobacco industry, that is, State Tobacco Monopoly Administration/China National Tobacco Corporation and began to gain traction during t...

OBJECTIVE To describe the extent of the tobacco industry involvement in establishing international standards for tobacco and tobacco products and the industry influence on the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). METHODS Analysis of tobacco industry documents made public as part of the settlement of the Minnesota Tobacco Trial and the Master Settlement Agreement. Search words...