Tobacco Company Concealment

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25 February 2011

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Tobacco Company Concealed

Health Hazards of Smoking

Researchers have uncovered documents that show Imperial Tobacco Canada knew about the health hazards of smoking while denying there was any harm

According to an article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (October 2009), “In 1992, British American Tobacco had its Canadian affiliate, Imperial Tobacco Canada, destroy internal research documents that could expose the company to liability or embarrassmen t. Sixty of these destroyed documents were subsequently uncovered in British American Tobacco’s files.”

Tobacco Company Research Showed Smoking Hazard

Researchers from the universities of Waterloo and Toronto, as well as one from Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada tracked down copies of studies carried out by British American Tobacco’s staff between 1967 and 1984. They were found at Imperial Tobacco’s headquarters in the United Kingdom.

There were 47 studies in all, of which 35 looked at the cancer-causing properties of tobacco smoke. The documents also contained research showing the addictive nature of nicotine.

The researchers quote one document as saying “... the present scale of the tobacco industry is largely dependent on the intensity and nature of the pharmacological action of nicotine,” and that “... should nicotine become less attractive to smokers, the future of the tobacco industry would become less secure.”

This and other evidence from the recovered files, says the research team “demonstrates that British American Tobacco had collected evidence that cigarette smoke was carcinogenic and addictive.”

Big Tobacco Denied Smoking Harmful

The report published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) points out that even though tobacco companies had scientific evidence of the harmful effects of smoking they continued to deny there was a link.

There is a quote from the chairman of Imperial Tobacco Canada and the chair of the Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers Council, Jean-Louis Mercier, who gave testimony to a House of Commons committee in 1987.

Mercier said, “It is not the position of the industry that tobacco causes any disease…The role, if any, that tobacco or smoking plays in the initiation and the development of these diseases is still very uncertain.”

In addition, in 1996, Martin Broughton, the chief executive of British American Tobacco was quoted by The Independent (October 1996) as stating, “We have not concealed, we do not conceal, and we will never conceal…We have no internal research which proves that smoking causes lung cancer or other diseases or, indeed, that smoking is addictive.”

Lives Might have been Saved if Evidence Made Public

Jill Mahoney, a Globe and Mail reporter, interviewed one of the researchers (October 2009). She quotes David Hammond a professor in the University of Waterloo’s department of health studies, as saying:

“This evidence suggests that the industry wasn’t sharing absolutely critical findings about addiction and the health hazards. There’s real potential that if they had done so, we would have had laws that saved lives implemented much sooner.”

Provinces Suing Big Tobacco

The exposing of the hidden Imperial Tobacco research will likely play a role in lawsuits that are now underway.

The Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Ontario, and New Brunswick have sued the big tobacco companies in an attempt to recover the cost of treating people with smoking-related illness. Newfoundland joined the legal process in February 2011. Other provinces are likely to launch lawsuits.

Joe Schneider, writing for Bloomberg.com says that Ontario is “seeking $50 billion from tobacco manufacturers…British Columbia was the first province to sue and is seeking unspecified damages, as is New Brunswick. Quebec has said it plans to sue and would likely seek about $30 billion…”

However, it will be years before the lawsuits are settled.

Image credit

Tferr

Sources

“Destroyed Documents: Uncovering the Science that Imperial Tobacco Sought to Conceal.” David Hammond et al, Canadian Medical Association Journal, October 14, 2009.

“BAT Denies Smoking Claims.” Tom Stevenson, The Independent, October 31, 1996.

Tobacco Firm Had Data Linking Cigarettes to Cancer Newly Discovered Papers Show.” Jill Mahoney, Globe and Mail, October 16, 2009.

“Tobacco Companies May Face C$200 billion in Canadian Claims.” Joe Schneider, Bloomberg News, October 21, 2009.

DECLINE IN SMOKING

Fewer and fewer Canadians are smoking. Below are the percentage of smokers by province for 2000 and 2009:

NL - 29.0 23.2

NS - 28.2 23.3

PEI - 27.9 20.4

NB - 26.3 22.0

PQ - 29.5 22.5

ON - 24.5 18.6

MB - 25.0 20.5