APRIL 1996 · VOLUME 17 · NUMBER 4
E D I T O R I A L
APRIL 1996 · VOLUME 17 · NUMBER 4
E D I T O R I A L
In the United States, the company has been reeling, under attack on a variety of legal, regulatory and legislative fronts:
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* Representative Henry Waxman, D-California, has obtained and read on the
floor of the House of Representatives documents from Philip Morris which show
company scientists monitored tens of thousands of children, beginning with
third graders, in an effort to study the link between childhood hyperactivity
and later teenage smoking. The documents also reveal that the company conducted
extensive research on the effect of nicotine on humans. * With evidence growing that the tobacco companies have manipulated the nicotine component in cigarettes, U.S. Food and Drug Administration head David Kessler has recommended to President Bill Clinton that tobacco be regulated as a drug. Fearful of the political fallout of even moderate action (such as limiting the amount of nicotine in cigarettes to non-addictive levels, or requiring plain packaging on cigarette packs), the Clinton administration has hinted it is most interested in adopting measures to restrict sales of cigarettes to minors. It remains unclear how tough those restrictions will be, and whether they will be governmentally imposed or voluntarily implemented by the tobacco industry. Among the possible measures are: a prohibition on tobacco advertising that appeals to children, a ban on distribution of free samples, requiring cigarettes to be stored behind store counters so children cannot steal them and a ban on vending machines. Philip Morris and the other tobacco giants clearly prefer a moderate regime of restrictions on sales to children to far-reaching regulations that recognize the lethal nature of cigarettes. Philip Morris introduced a new "Action Against Access" initiative in June which, in addition to a heavy advertising campaign, promises to put warning labels saying "underage sale prohibited" on all packs and cartons, to cease all cigarette giveaways through the mail and other means and to prevent the use of its logo on items marketed to minors. The initiative was widely viewed as an effort to preempt more serious federal regulation. * The Department of Justice has convened a grand jury to investigate whether tobacco company executives, including former Philip Morris Chief Executive Officer William Campbell, lied to Congress in 1994 when they testified under oath that they did not think nicotine is addictive, that cigarettes cause disease or that the companies had manipulated nicotine levels in cigarettes. * A federal judge in Louisiana has allowed a massive class action suit against the major U.S. tobacco companies to proceed. The suit, which will be the largest class action in history, seeks to represent the current 40 million smokers and 50 million ex-smokers in the United States, and contends that the companies concealed knowledge that nicotine is addictive and that they manipulated nicotine levels to keep smokers hooked. The certification of the class action is now on appeal. * In February, the state of Florida filed a suit against the big tobacco companies, seeking reimbursement for $1.4 billion in Medicaid costs stemming from smoking. The Florida suit was the fourth such state action.
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Philip Morris' second quarter earnings rose more than 14 percent in from 1994, to a gigantic $1.41 billion.
The primary explanation for the profit gain is booming international sales. Company international revenues leaped 25 percent from 1995 to 1995.
Industry analysts rhapsodize about Philip Morris' international operations, but public health experts view them as creating a public health disaster of staggering proportions. If current trends continue, annual deaths from smoking-related causes will skyrocket from 3 million to 10 million by 2025, according to Oxford epidemioligist Richard Peto and his associates.
An increasing proportion of those deaths will be in the Third World. The World Bank predicts per capita tobacco consumption will fall 17 percent this decade in industrialized nations, but leap 12 percent in the developing world and Eastern Europe.
That projected lethal increase in Third World smoking is tied directly to the large Western tobacco companies' deceptive and manipulative promotional and marketing efforts in countries where awareness of the health effects of smoking are low. And Philip Morris has taken the lead in expanding overseas.
In Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe, Marlboro logos, colors and ads are now ubiquitous. In the eyes of youth around the planet, the Marlboro Man conflates attractive U.S. images of freedom, ruggedness and hipness with Marlboro cigarette.
Philip Morris has made particular headway in its effort to gain a dominant position in the huge Chinese market. It has signed an agreement with the government-operated China National Tobacco Corporation to make Philip Morris cigarettes in China. And it has employed the full panoply of marketing tricks, including underwriting the Marlboro Soccer League.
Many of the world's great problems are complex, with solutions not immediately evident. But the coming upsurge in the annual tobacco slaughter is not among them. It is anticipatable, its causes are easily identified and it could be prevented.