Letter to Geoffrey Bible, CEO, Philip Morris Companies

October 27, 1999

Mr. Geoffrey Bible
Chairman & CEO
Philip Morris Companies
120 Park Avenue
New York, New York 10017

Dear Mr. Bible:

After decades of denial, your company has now acknowledged the overwhelming scientific and medical consensus that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer, heart disease and other serious illnesses, and is addictive. Your public admission brings with it the responsibility for action  not just words  to begin to reduce the more than 400,000 annual deaths from tobacco in the U.S.

Philip Morris also must take responsibility for the fact that more American children, both boys and girls, smoke your Marlboro brand than all other cigarette brands combined, and that Marlboro is the number one cigarette among children worldwide. This is not a coincidence. Your marketing strongly influences children to begin to smoke and in brand selection. Of the more than 3,000 American children who become regular smokers every day, at least 1,800 of them are smoking Marlboro.

Unless you undertake the following important actions to reduce the toll of tobacco, your statements can only be seen as a public relations gesture rather than meaningful corporate change.

• End your opposition to the reasonable regulation of tobacco products by the Food and Drug Administration, and drop your lawsuit against FDA. Since you now admit that your products are addictive and experts agree they cause serious disease, they should not escape the same level of government oversight as drugs, medical devices and other products regulated by the FDA. It is also time to end the smokescreen that FDA regulation of tobacco will inevitably lead to a ban on cigarette sales to adults. The FDA has never advocated or supported a ban on cigarettes, nor have we.
• Stop all marketing practices that impact children. Eliminate the use of human characters in your advertising, including the Marlboro Cowboy, and western imagery. Curb your pervasive in-store advertising in convenience stores and other retail outlets frequented by children and in publications with high youth readership. And end sponsorships of public events that can be attended by children or are broadcast on television.
• Take action to reduce the ease with which kids illegally obtain cigarettes by permitting your products to be sold only in stores that place cigarettes behind the counter, and eliminate vending machine, Internet and direct mail sales.
• Revise your “youth anti-smoking” advertising by telling kids the truth: that smoking kills and is addictive. Otherwise, end the charade that you are trying to discourage youth smoking.

If Philip Morris is serious about acting responsibly, now is the time to move forward with the concrete steps we have outlined in this letter. Your company must begin to assume the responsibility that goes with the manufacture and marketing of lethal products.

Sincerely,

American Cancer Society
American College of Cardiology
American College of Chest Physicians
American College of Occupational & Environmental Medicine
American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine
American College of Preventive Medicine
American Dental Association
American Heart Association
American Medical Association
American Medical Student Association
American Medical Women’s Association
American Nurses Association
American Psychological Association
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
Children’s Defense Fund
General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church
Interreligious Coalition on Smoking OR Health
Latino Council on Alcohol and Tobacco
National Association of County and City Health Officials
National Association of Elementary School Principals
National Education Association Health Information Network
National Medical Association
National Partnership for Women and Families
Partnership for Prevention
Summit Health Coalition
YWCA of the U.S.A.