Lawmakers must choose: Protect kids or protect industry profits
Editor
Feb 17, 2012
From Idaho comes the latest evidence that the tobacco industry will go to great lengths — and spare no expense — to protect its profits and defeat measures proven to keep kids from smoking.
According to a report in the Idaho Falls Post Register, the Altria Group, the nation’s largest tobacco company and parent of Philip Morris USA, spent more money lobbying Idaho officials last year than any other group. Altria spent $165,076 lobbying in the state in 2011 — it’s the only group to spend more than $100,000, and its total is 82 percent more than the next biggest spender.
Continue reading In Idaho, Big Tobacco Spends Big Bucks to Buy Influence
posted February 17, 2012
Tobacco Company Comes Under Fire for Green Claims
Editor
Jul 27, 2011
Cigarettes kill and pollute. There's nothing healthy or environmentally friendly about them.
So it's truly outrageous that the Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, owned by Reynolds American, is running magazine ads promoting its Natural American Spirit cigarettes as "eco friendly." It's called greenwashing — making deceptive environmental claims to improve the image of a controversial product or company.
Continue reading Causing lung cancer and heart disease the “eco-friendly” way
posted July 27, 2011
Companies give millions to hard-to-track groups, step up state lobbying
Editor
Jun 9, 2011
OpenSecrets Blog gives us an updated look at tobacco industry efforts to influence federal lawmakers and regulators, as well as their counterparts in the states.
The industry's goal remains the same as always: Protect its profits by defeating proven measures to reduce tobacco use and save lives.
Continue reading Tobacco Industry Finds New Ways to Buy Influence
posted June 09, 2011
Philip Morris International chief's comment that tobacco is "not that hard to quit" only hints at company deception
Editor
May 12, 2011
Philip Morris International CEO Louis Camilleri made headlines at the PMI shareholders' meeting in New York on Wednesday, when he falsely claimed that "it's not that hard to quit" smoking cigarettes.
It was a revealing glimpse of the real Philip Morris at an event usually orchestrated to present the world's largest private tobacco company in the best light even as its products and practices spread death and disease worldwide.
Continue reading He Said What?
posted May 12, 2011
New Study: tobacco companies spiked cigarettes with diet aids to hook people worried about weight
Editor
May 4, 2011
It's been nearly a century since Lucky Strike first used the slogan "Reach for A Lucky Instead of A Sweet" and decades since the early Virginia Slims advertising campaign depicted women who smoke as independent, stylish, sexy — and of course slim — to market to women and girls.
But slogans and sophisticated images weren't the only tricks in the tobacco industry's scheme to keep people smoking.
According to a new study published in The European Journal of Public Health, the companies added appetite suppressants to cigarettes "to enhance the effects of smoking on appetite and body weight" — and to stoke smokers' fears of gaining weight if they quit.
Continue reading Skinny and Sick?
posted May 04, 2011
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