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The Tobacco Toll |
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  Friday . Nov 20 |
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Copyright AP/Wide World Photos. Former Brown & Williamson tobacco company employee Jeffrey Wigand accompanied by his attorneys arrive to give a deposition 11/29/95. In 1994, former tobacco executive Dr. Jeffrey Wigand’s life was turned upside down because he exposed the deceptive production practices at Brown & Williamson Tobacco Company (B&W), maker of the Kool brand of cigarettes. In those days, things like product manipulation to make cigarettes more addictive, suppression of research showing that cigarettes were lethal, and outright lying to the public and the government were business as usual for the big cigarette companies, but it was shocking news to an unsuspecting public. The movie revolves around Dr. Wigand and his relationship with 60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergman, who convinced Dr. Wigand to speak on camera about his knowledge of B&W -only to have executives at CBS kill the story out for fear of being sued by the company. What Dr. Wigand revealed threatened B&W’s reputation and profits, and helped fuel the growing efforts to rein in the cigarette companies’ deadly marketing practices and to demand compensation for the enormous harms their wrongdoing had caused. As a result, Dr. Wigand’s disclosures of cigarette company misdeeds quickly prompted a well-funded, insidious campaign to discredit and intimidate him. The allegations and attacks against Dr. Wigand were largely unfounded, but damage was done. Dr. Wigand went from being an executive earning $300,000 a year to teaching high school Japanese and earning $30,000 a year. His wife filed for divorce, his friends stopped associating with him and he and his family were subjected to several death threats. But while the cigarette companies could hurt Dr. Wigand and his family, they could not suppress or rebut the facts he disclosed about the cigarette companies and their long history of deceit, manipulation, and improper and unethical business practices. See the movie. Read Wigand’s story. Understand why the tobacco industry vilified him and why every American should thank him. Deposition of Wigand During the Mississippi Lawsuit Against Big Tobacco Inside Quotes from the Tobacco Industry Order Field Packet for Local Activities. Copyright Information: This photo is copyright protected and is the property of the Associated Press. Any use without prior permission from AP/Wide World Photos is prohibited. Any violation will be subject to legal action.
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