tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/british-american-tobacco-19834/articlesBritish American Tobacco – The Conversation2022-12-04T12:36:35Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1947132022-12-04T12:36:35Z2022-12-04T12:36:35ZWhy Big Tobacco’s attempts to rehabilitate its image are so dangerous<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497293/original/file-20221124-26-qdjjyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C319%2C5130%2C3509&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Big Tobacco is still alive and well, despite colossal worldwide efforts for tobacco control measures.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/why-big-tobacco-s-attempts-to-rehabilitate-its-image-are-so-dangerous" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>In September, Imperial Tobacco Canada, the Canadian subsidiary of <a href="https://www.bat.com/group/sites/UK__9D9KCY.nsf/vwPagesWebLive/DO52AD6H">British American Tobacco</a>, was <a href="https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/imperial-tobacco-canada-earns-2022-great-place-to-work-r-certification-804619278.html">awarded the “Great Place to Work” certification</a>, one of the leading authorities on workplace culture. </p>
<p>Since then, Imperial Tobacco Canada representatives have met with graduate students across the country, including at the <a href="https://clnx.utoronto.ca/home/slevents.htm?eventId=47253">University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6975918251058835456?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop">York University’s Schulich School of Business</a> and <a href="https://www.mcgill.ca/desautels/career/events/jaclyn-fisher-career-day/information-students">McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management</a>, urging students to “come join us as we build a better tomorrow.” </p>
<p>As of May 2022, Imperial Tobacco Canada was <a href="https://engage.utoronto.ca/site/SPageServer?pagename=presidents_circle_member_listing#i">listed as a Presidents’ Circle Member on the University of Toronto website</a>, to acknowledge their “vital financial support at the leadership level.” Despite Big Tobacco’s efforts to renormalize itself, we should all be very wary of engaging with the self-described <a href="https://www.bat.com/group/sites/UK__9D9KCY.nsf/vwPagesWebLive/DO8GSFQT">“Bold, Fast, Empowered”</a> corporate culture.</p>
<h2>Suppressing incriminating evidence</h2>
<p>British American Tobacco and other big tobacco companies have <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520270169/golden-holocaust">known about the clear links between smoking and a host of diseases, including cancer,</a> since at least the 1950s. Despite this, they did not disclose their internal damning evidence. </p>
<p>Instead, they aggressively undermined mounting scientific evidence of the public health risks associated with their products through a <a href="https://tobaccotactics.org/">sophisticated array of deceitful strategies and tactics</a>. These included funding dubious research, <a href="https://exposetobacco.org/tobacco-industry-allies/">relying on allies that did not disclose their links</a> to the industry, along with other forms of aggressive lobbying and marketing. </p>
<p>Fast forward 70 years, and tobacco remains the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)01438-6">leading cause of cancer worldwide today</a>. Epidemiologist Prabhat Jha <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra1308383">estimates that one death results from each million cigarettes sold</a>. </p>
<p>In the first half of 2022 alone, <a href="https://www.bat.com/group/sites/uk__9d9kcy.nsf/vwPagesWebLive/DOCGKBGW/$FILE/medMDCGPNMG.pdf?openelement">British American Tobacco sold 303.4 billion cigarettes globally</a>. Cigarettes kill between <a href="https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/problem/toll-global">one half</a> and <a href="https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-015-0281-z">two-thirds</a> of their users and approximately <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tobacco">eight million people worldwide annually</a>. Big Tobacco is still alive and well, despite the colossal efforts of tobacco control leaders worldwide. This is partly the result of its renormalization strategy.</p>
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<img alt="Hands holding a box of cigarettes. The box says 'Smoking Causes Mouth Cancer' with a photo of a tongue showing signs of cancer" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497294/original/file-20221124-13-d2anaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497294/original/file-20221124-13-d2anaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497294/original/file-20221124-13-d2anaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497294/original/file-20221124-13-d2anaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497294/original/file-20221124-13-d2anaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497294/original/file-20221124-13-d2anaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497294/original/file-20221124-13-d2anaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Tobacco remains the leading cause of cancer worldwide today.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick</span></span>
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<h2>Big Tobacco’s rebrand</h2>
<p>Big Tobacco companies hit the proverbial rock bottom in the 1990s and early 2000s <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/tobacco-firms-to-pay-550m-over-smuggling-1.902510">when facing several</a> <a href="https://www.publichealthlawcenter.org/topics/commercial-tobacco-control/master-settlement-agreement">major</a> <a href="https://www.fightcancer.org/news/department-justice-lawsuit-against-tobacco-industry">lawsuits</a> centred on the massive morbidity and mortality of cigarettes, the industry’s extensive efforts to conceal and manipulate evidence, and its complicity in smuggling its own products around the world.</p>
<p>Another significant blow to the industry was the adoption of the landmark <a href="https://fctc.who.int/publications/i/item/9241591013">World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC)</a> in 2005, dedicated to reducing tobacco demand and supply. Yet 20 years on, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/11/how-big-tobacco-has-survived-death-and-taxes">Big Tobacco companies continue to</a> <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-tobacco-industry-rebounds-from-its-near-death-experience-1492968698">increase their revenue and profit</a>. </p>
<p>Facing a potential decline post-WHO FCTC, British American Tobacco, Philip Morris International and other Big Tobacco companies <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016%2FS0140-6736(15)60312-9">sought to rebrand themselves from corporate pariahs to socially responsible companies</a> keen on partnering with governments, as well as international organizations, NGOs, and universities. British American Tobacco now claims to “<a href="https://www.bat.com/group/sites/UK__9D9KCY.nsf/vwPagesWebLive/DOBNRDVZ">behave ethically in all we do</a>.” </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tobacco-industry-rallies-against-illicit-trade-but-have-we-forgotten-its-complicity-38760">Tobacco industry rallies against illicit trade – but have we forgotten its complicity?</a>
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<p>This rebranding has involved agreements with customs and law enforcement agencies on how to address the illicit trade in tobacco products, <a href="https://www.occrp.org/en/loosetobacco/british-american-tobacco-fights-dirty-in-west-africa">despite significant</a> and <a href="https://www.occrp.org/en/big-trouble-at-big-tobacco/">growing evidence</a> the industry is <a href="https://tobaccotactics.org/wiki/tobacco-smuggling/">still complicit in it</a>. Big Tobacco’s anti-illicit trade efforts have focused on <a href="https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/28/2/127?rss=1">undermining policy</a>, <a href="https://bat-uncovered.exposetobacco.org/">disrupting competitors and selling more of its own products</a> — not tackling illicit trade per se. </p>
<p>In Canada, Big Tobacco has used the spectre of illicit trade <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2017.1325054">to argue against taxation</a>, <a href="https://www.cmaj.ca/content/188/14/E340">plain packaging</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/tobacco-menthol-ban-imperial-1.3511069">menthol bans</a> and other effective public health measures, including through third parties (e.g. <a href="https://www.smoke-free.ca/eng_home/2016/Cora-Slides-Annotated.pdf">the National Coalition Against Contraband Tobacco</a>) and <a href="https://lobbycanada.gc.ca/app/secure/ocl/lrs/do/advSrch?V_SEARCH.command=navigate&time=1668615907155">direct lobbying of government officials and parliamentarians</a>.</p>
<h2>Lying about product harms</h2>
<p>Another central part of the tobacco industry’s rebranding focuses on a “smoke-free future” through “risk-reduced products,” notably vaping. However, there are <a href="https://nceph.anu.edu.au/files/E-cigarettes%20health%20outcomes%20review%20summary%20brief%202022.pdf">real health risks associated with vaping,</a> such as exposure to chemicals and increased risk of lung and heart disease. Vaping has a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2021.101374">particular attraction among young people</a>, putting them more at risk for these diseases. </p>
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<img alt="Two teenage girls smoking electronic cigarettes in a store." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497286/original/file-20221124-16-i9q73o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497286/original/file-20221124-16-i9q73o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497286/original/file-20221124-16-i9q73o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497286/original/file-20221124-16-i9q73o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497286/original/file-20221124-16-i9q73o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497286/original/file-20221124-16-i9q73o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497286/original/file-20221124-16-i9q73o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The chemicals in vapes can result in an increased risk of lung and heart disease. Vaping has become increasingly popular among youths and young adults.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>The tobacco industry has a <a href="https://exposetobacco.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Unsmoke_Brief.pdf">long track record</a> of <a href="https://tobaccotactics.org/wiki/harm-reduction/">blatantly lying about the harms</a> caused by their products. They have repeatedly marketed filtered cigarettes, flavoured cigarettes and other products as tobacco alternatives that present reduced risks to consumers — <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/07/cigarette-filters/533379/">despite evidence later showing this was false</a>. </p>
<p>If anything, vaping products have created a rift within the public health community — an all too familiar “<a href="https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788970464.00010">divide and conquer</a>” strategy of the tobacco industry. Vaping may also serve as a distraction from the continued commercial focus of the industry on deadly cigarettes, which continues to <a href="https://www.bat.com/group/sites/uk__9d9kcy.nsf/vwPagesWebLive/DOCGKBGW/$FILE/medMDCGPNMG.pdf?openelement">account for 84 per cent of British American Tobacco’s revenue</a> worldwide.</p>
<h2>Seeing through the smokescreen</h2>
<p>Given the “fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between the tobacco industry’s interests and public health policy interests,” the WHO has <a href="https://fctc.who.int/publications/m/item/guidelines-for-implementation-of-article-5.3">repeatedly warned state parties to the WHO FCTC</a> — including Canada — against tobacco industry engagement. Yet <a href="https://lobbycanada.gc.ca/app/secure/ocl/lrs/do/cmmLgPblcVw?comlogId=545786">Canadian government officials</a> <a href="https://lobbycanada.gc.ca/app/secure/ocl/lrs/do/cmmLgPblcVw?comlogId=545789">routinely meet with</a> <a href="https://lobbycanada.gc.ca/app/secure/ocl/lrs/do/cmmLgPblcVw?comlogId=500096">tobacco industry representatives</a>. </p>
<p>Experts in Canada consider “renormalization” of tobacco as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDILWGK0yEs&ab_channel=OntarioTobaccoResearchUnit">one of the great risks to progress in tobacco control</a>. We can’t let ourselves be fooled by the tobacco industry or become indifferent in the face of their attempts to rehabilitate their image.</p>
<p>Instead, we need to demonstrate leadership and make a commitment to hold the tobacco industry to account, and educate the next generation on the Big Tobacco playbook. This means not forgetting that, through the smoke screen, the tobacco industry’s goal remains advancing corporate profit at the expense of public health.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194713/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benoît Gomis previously worked on tobacco control research projects funded by the US National Institutes of Health and Bloomberg Philanthropies.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jillian Kohler receives funding from SSHRC, the Connaught Global Challenge Award and the WHO and is Director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Governance, Accountability and Transparency in the Pharmaceutical Sector</span></em></p>Big Tobacco’s efforts to rehabilitate its image should not go unchallenged because the tobacco industry’s goal remains advancing corporate profit at the expense of public health.Benoît Gomis, Sessional Lecturer, Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of TorontoJillian Kohler, Professor, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1570232021-04-07T16:24:04Z2021-04-07T16:24:04ZSustainability rankings don’t always identify sustainable companies<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393675/original/file-20210406-15-16ubkld.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C155%2C5184%2C2762&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">ESG rankings and lists aren't often entirely reliable for consumers or investors wanting to make decisions on companies they buy from or invest in.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Appolinary Kalashnikova/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.bat.com/">British American Tobacco</a> (famous for cigarettes), <a href="https://www.coca-cola.ca/homepage">Coca-Cola</a> (world-renowned for its sugary soft drinks) and <a href="https://www.glencore.com/">Glencore</a> (a British/Swiss mining company) were recently ranked in the top five most environmentally and socially responsible companies <a href="https://www.hl.co.uk/news/articles/ftse-100-the-5-highest-esg-rated-companies">on the FTSE 100</a>, the share index of the 100 biggest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange.</p>
<p>As consumers and investors, we often look at environmental, social and governance (ESG) rankings to guide our purchase, investment and employment decisions. But what should we make of this list, compiled by British investment services firm Hargreaves Lansdown?</p>
<p>As kids, we learned that smoking kills, yet British American Tobacco has a place at the top of the list, suggesting it’s a highly responsible company. </p>
<p>Obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes are life-threatening diseases, yet Coca Cola, a leading sugar purveyor, also has a top ranking. </p>
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<img alt="A tractor trailer truck backs into a loading dock at Coca-Cola Beverages Florida past a Now Hiring sign." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393447/original/file-20210405-19-8aut0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393447/original/file-20210405-19-8aut0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393447/original/file-20210405-19-8aut0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393447/original/file-20210405-19-8aut0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393447/original/file-20210405-19-8aut0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393447/original/file-20210405-19-8aut0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393447/original/file-20210405-19-8aut0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A tractor trailer truck backs into a loading dock at Coca-Cola Beverages Florida past a Now Hiring sign in May 2020, in Hollywood, Fla.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)</span></span>
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<p>Glencore is being investigated for <a href="https://www.glencore.com/media-and-insights/news/investigation-by-the-serious-fraud-office">alleged fraud offences</a>, yet it’s No. 4 on the same list. </p>
<h2>Meaningless?</h2>
<p>A number of lists rank companies as being “<a href="https://www.newsweek.com/americas-most-responsible-companies-2021">most responsible</a>” or the “<a href="https://www.corporateknights.com/reports/best-50/2020-best-50-results-15930648/">best corporate citizens</a>” or the “<a href="https://www.canadastop100.com/environmental/">most green</a>.”</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.corporateknights.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-Global-100_Methodology_Updated.pptx.pdf">Corporate Knights Global 100</a>, for example, is an annual list that evaluates companies based on their sustainability performance. Companies are given a score based on their environmental, social, governance and economic performance and then ranked from one to 100. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.newsweek.com/americas-most-responsible-companies-2021">Newsweek magazine’s</a> America’s Most Responsible Company list also ranks U.S. companies on their sustainability performance.</p>
<p>Its 2021 list ranked Citigroup as the country’s ninth most responsible firm. The bank was recently fined <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/07/business/citigroup-fine-risk-management.html">US$400 million by federal regulators</a> for “unsafe and unsound banking practices.” </p>
<p>Microsoft is ranked third on the same list, yet earlier this year, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2020/01/22/microsoft-security-shocker-as-250-million-customer-records-exposed-online/?sh=545f84914d1b">250 million client records were exposed online without password protection.</a> </p>
<p>Procter & Gamble, 23rd on the Newsweek list, is <a href="https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/p-g-shareholders-vote-in-favor-of-a-deforestation-report-1.1507649">currently being scrutinized</a> for its reliance on trees from Canada’s northern boreal forest.</p>
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<img alt="A forest with ferns and tall pine trees." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393867/original/file-20210407-15-za7qxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393867/original/file-20210407-15-za7qxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393867/original/file-20210407-15-za7qxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393867/original/file-20210407-15-za7qxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393867/original/file-20210407-15-za7qxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393867/original/file-20210407-15-za7qxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393867/original/file-20210407-15-za7qxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A portion of Canada’s boreal forest in Québec.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ali Kazal/Unsplash</span></span>
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<p>In Canada, Corporate Knights ranks <a href="https://www.corporateknights.com/reports/2020-best-50/2020-best-50-results-15930648/">Canada’s Best 50 corporate citizens</a>. Leading the pack is Mountain Equipment Co-op, which recently apologized for the lack of diversity in a marketing campaign that <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/mec-diversity-ottawa-problem-open-letter-1.4880900">excluded people of colour</a>.</p>
<p>Hydro One, <a href="https://www.corporateknights.com/reports/best-50/2020-best-50-results-15930648/">in the No. 11 position</a>, has been taken to task for its <a href="https://financialpost.com/commodities/energy/ontario-energy-minister-on-hydro-one-ceo-pay-this-is-not-a-negotiation">executive compensation packages</a>.</p>
<h2>Consumers, investors look at rankings</h2>
<p>Increasing numbers of investors depend on ESG information from third parties for their investment decisions. Similarly, consumers are seeking <a href="https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/15087-consumers-want-sustainable-products.html">sustainable products</a> and looking to responsible firms to inform their <a href="https://www.voguebusiness.com/sustainability/the-rise-in-esg-ratings-whats-the-score">purchasing decisions</a>. </p>
<p>There are also <a href="https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/an-inside-look-at-esg-ratings-and-why-they-should-matter-to-you-1.1564931">an increasing number of companies</a> entering the ESG rankings field. Currently there is no regulatory oversight or consistency across ranking agencies on what factors are being assessed in the rankings and who is assessing them. </p>
<p>As well, there are <a href="https://hbr.org/2020/09/the-challenge-of-rating-esg-performance">no global or nationally accepted standards</a> or consistent requirements on what should be reported or measured for ESG performance. Companies are evaluated based on a <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/why-esg-is-here-to-stay">wide range of criteria</a>, making it challenging for consumers and investors to make fully informed decisions.</p>
<p>Should investors look at <a href="https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/an-inside-look-at-esg-ratings-and-why-they-should-matter-to-you-1.1564931">ESG ratings</a> to assess their investment choices and the associated risks? </p>
<p>We looked at the top five Canadian firms from Corporate Knights 2020 Global 100 list and searched the Sustainalytics ESG Risk Database to see their ESG risk. <a href="https://www.sustainalytics.com/esg-data/">Sustainalytics</a>, a company initially launched in Canada as <a href="https://www.sustainalytics.com/about-us/">Jantzi Research</a>, measures a company’s exposure to industry-specific ESG risks and how well a company is managing those risks, as well as the extent of any <a href="https://connect.sustainalytics.com/esg-risk-ratings-methodology?_ga=2.197064426.733883677.1616622971-1797556647.1616523490&_gac=1.249883186.1616623523.EAIaIQobChMIvenN8_fJ7wIVSuDICh116gILEAAYASAAEgJA-_D_BwE">unmanaged ESG risk</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393678/original/file-20210406-19-16wln4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A Cascades sign is seen next to an evergreen tree." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393678/original/file-20210406-19-16wln4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393678/original/file-20210406-19-16wln4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393678/original/file-20210406-19-16wln4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393678/original/file-20210406-19-16wln4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393678/original/file-20210406-19-16wln4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393678/original/file-20210406-19-16wln4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393678/original/file-20210406-19-16wln4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Cascades plant is seen in Laval, Que. in A Cascades plant is seen in Laval, Que. in November 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Three Canadian companies — the <a href="https://www.sustainalytics.com/esg-rating/bank-of-montreal/1007897299/">Bank of Montreal</a>, <a href="https://www.sustainalytics.com/esg-rating/cascades-inc/1007973123/">Cascades</a> and <a href="https://www.sustainalytics.com/esg-rating/canadian-national-railway-co/1008231266/">Canadian National Railway</a> — were ranked as low risk, while two, <a href="https://www.sustainalytics.com/esg-rating/algonquin-power-utilities-corp/1008760564/">Algonquin</a> and <a href="https://www.sustainalytics.com/esg-rating/bombardier-inc/1008573450/">Bombardier</a>, which placed even higher on the Corporate Knights Global 100 list than the three aforementioned companies, are considered high risk by the Sustainalytics ESG Risk rating. </p>
<h2>No consistency</h2>
<p>Why would one well-known ESG ranking agency rate a company a leader while another flag it as high risk? If all the ratings and rankings are measuring ESG, we would anticipate consistency across rankings.</p>
<p>While rankings should help us in our quest to make better, more sustainable decisions and choose ethical companies as <a href="https://hbr.org/amp/2019/06/research-actually-consumers-do-buy-sustainable-products">consumers</a> and investors, they can be misleading and provide only a partial view of a company’s ESG commitments. </p>
<p>When determining which rankings to trust, we suggest looking for ranking agencies that use public information to assess companies on ESG performance. Quality ranking organizations are transparent about how they analyze companies and come up with their rankings. Those reading the lists should be able to assess the information provided in the ranking quickly and with confidence about what it really says.</p>
<p>Look for rankings that don’t accept payment from companies to participate; this reduces their power to influence their placement. Look at information from multiple rankings and ratings.</p>
<p>When companies in <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00208825.2004.11043718">contested industries</a> (those that do harm) score high in sustainability rankings, it should raise serious questions about the validity of the ranking.</p>
<p>Rather than blindly trusting rankings, understand the information provided by each list. While rankings are designed to offer compressed information, unfortunately, we still need to do our own research to evaluate companies.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157023/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some companies rank high on some lists that measure environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives, and rank near the bottom on other lists. Which rankings should we trust?Rumina Dhalla, Associate Professor, Organizational Studies and Sustainable Commerce and Director, Institute for Sustainable Commerce, University of GuelphFelix Arndt, John F. Wood Chair in Entrepreneurship, University of GuelphLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1404392020-07-06T00:50:09Z2020-07-06T00:50:09ZBig Tobacco’s decisive defeat on plain packaging laws won’t stop its war against public health<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345439/original/file-20200703-33931-liapeh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>After a decade of legal challenges by the tobacco lobby, Australia’s pioneering push to eliminate all tobacco advertising finally has clear air.</p>
<p>Its longest stoush, over plain packaging laws introduced in 2012, finally ended last month, when the highest adjudicative body of the Word Trade Organisation affirmed a 2018 ruling the laws did not constitute an effective trade barrier or infringe tobacco companies’ trade mark rights. </p>
<p>This is a significant win. But the global war is far from over. While this decision should encourage more countries to introduce plain packaging, the tobacco lobby can still be expected to use legal chicanery to thwart such public health measures. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-decisive-win-on-plain-packaging-paves-way-for-other-countries-to-follow-suit-140553">Australia's decisive win on plain packaging paves way for other countries to follow suit</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Eliminating tobacco advertising</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345442/original/file-20200703-33913-1rcgm3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345442/original/file-20200703-33913-1rcgm3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345442/original/file-20200703-33913-1rcgm3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1034&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345442/original/file-20200703-33913-1rcgm3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1034&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345442/original/file-20200703-33913-1rcgm3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1034&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345442/original/file-20200703-33913-1rcgm3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1300&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345442/original/file-20200703-33913-1rcgm3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345442/original/file-20200703-33913-1rcgm3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1300&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australian rugby league’s Winfield Cup, awarded to grand final winners from 1982 to 1995. Winfield’s use of the sport to promote its products ended with federal laws prohibiting such advertising.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Library of Australia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Australia’s tobacco plain packaging laws were a world first – the final step in a national <a href="https://extranet.who.int/nutrition/gina/sites/default/files/AUS%202009%20National%20Preventative%20Health%20Strategy.pdf">preventative health strategy</a> to deter smoking by eliminating all avenues for tobacco promotion.</p>
<p>It followed Australia banning cigarette advertising on radio and television in 1976, banning the broadcast or publication of any form of tobacco promotion (such as through sponsorship of sports) <a href="https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.nsf/Content/tobacco-control-toc%7Etimeline">in 1993</a>, requirements for text-only health warnings on tobacco products in 1995, and warnings featuring graphic images of smoking health impacts in 2006. </p>
<p>Branding on packaging was seen as the last avenue for tobacco companies to market their products to smokers.</p>
<p>The plain packaging laws banned all distinctive branding elements on packets. All products had to use the same drab brown colour found by research to be <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/worlds-ugliest-colour-revealed-pantone-448c-a7076446.html">the least appealing</a>. </p>
<p>Only “word marks” identifying the source and type of tobacco product, such as Marlboro Gold or Champion Ruby, were permitted. </p>
<h2>Legal challenges to Australia’s law</h2>
<p>The tobacco lobby sought to thwart the Australian law through a variety of legal challenges.</p>
<p>British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco International took action in Australia’s High Court. They argued the law was an unconstitutional acquisition of their intellectual property rights in their brands. The High Court conclusively rejected this <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-high-court-and-the-marlboro-man-the-plain-packaging-decision-10014">in October 2012</a>.</p>
<p>Phillip Morris reorganised its legal structure to seek compensation as a Hong Kong company under provisions of the 1993 Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement between Australia and Hong Kong. This gambit <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/dec/18/australia-wins-international-legal-battle-with-philip-morris-over-plain-packaging">failed in 2015</a>.</p>
<p>The WTO case was initiated in 2013 by tobacco exporters Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Indonesia and the Ukraine, with <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/trade-tobacco-idUSL5E8GMHBW20120522">tobacco industry help</a>. They argued Australia had restricted trade and trade mark use more than needed to protect public health, contravening international trade rules.</p>
<p>The WTO rejected these arguments in 2018. Its Appellate Body affirmed that decision on June 9, rejecting the appeal by Honduras and the Dominican Republic.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-big-tobacco-sees-an-opportunity-in-the-pandemic-138188">Coronavirus: big tobacco sees an opportunity in the pandemic</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Trade mark arguments</h2>
<p>The Appellate Body ruled plain packaging was a legitimate part of Australia’s comprehensive range of tobacco control measures and did not amount to a <a href="https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/435_441abr_conc_e.pdf">restriction on trade</a>.</p>
<p>It rejected the argument Australia had infringed trade mark rights under the 1995 Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (known as TRIPS), binding on all 164 WTO member nations.</p>
<p>It affirmed TRIPS granted a trade mark owner “the exclusive right to preclude unauthorised third parties from using identical or similar signs”. But it said there was no “positive right” to use a trade mark, as the appellants argued. </p>
<p>Nor did plain packaging laws contravene <a href="https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/publications_e/ai17_e/trips_art20_jur.pdf">section 20 of the TRIPS rules</a>, which states trade mark use “shall not be unjustifiably encumbered by special requirements”. Member nations “enjoy a certain degree of discretion in imposing encumbrances on the use of trademarks”, the Appellate Body said.</p>
<p>It agreed Australia’s policy was supported by the public health objectives and evidence, <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/study-of-the-impact-of-the-tobacco-plain-packaging-measure-on-smoking-prevalence-in-australia">including a 2016 review</a> showing reduced smoking rates.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Impact of plain packaging on smoking prevalence in Australia</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345406/original/file-20200703-111298-seqi9k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345406/original/file-20200703-111298-seqi9k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345406/original/file-20200703-111298-seqi9k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345406/original/file-20200703-111298-seqi9k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345406/original/file-20200703-111298-seqi9k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345406/original/file-20200703-111298-seqi9k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345406/original/file-20200703-111298-seqi9k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345406/original/file-20200703-111298-seqi9k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Study of the impact of the tobacco plain packaging measure on smoking prevalence in Australia. 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/study-of-the-impact-of-the-tobacco-plain-packaging-measure-on-smoking-prevalence-in-australia.pdf">Tasneem Chipty/Roy Morgan</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>It also noted Australia’s obligations to reduce smoking as a signatory to the World Health Organisation’s 2003 <a href="https://www.who.int/fctc/signatories_parties/en/">Framework Convention on Tobacco Control</a>. The convention’s <a href="https://www.who.int/fctc/guidelines/article_11.pdf?ua=1">guidelines</a>
recommend “measures to restrict or prohibit the use of logos, colours, brand images or promotional information on packaging”. </p>
<h2>Global battle will continue</h2>
<p>So this is a comprehensive vindication of Australia’s leadership on tobacco packaging. It should encourage other nations to follow suit. More than ten have already done so. The latest is Singapore, where plain packaging laws came into effect <a href="https://tobaccoreporter.com/2020/06/29/singapore-to-require-plain-packaging-from-wednesday/">on July 1</a>.</p>
<p>But don’t expect Big Tobacco to stop using litigation and other tactics to deter nations following suit.</p>
<p>Defending Philip Morris’ Hong Kong gambit, for example, resulted in Australia successfully claiming <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-even-winning-is-losing-the-surprising-cost-of-defeating-philip-morris-over-plain-packaging-114279">about A$23 million</a> in costs for legal representation. Philip Morris was ordered to pay just half. Researchers have suggested the threat of legal action using trade deals <a href="https://global-uploads.webflow.com/5e332a62c703f653182faf47/5e332a62c703f684bf2fcb18_Crosbie%20FINAL.pdf">delayed New Zealand’s introduction</a> of tobacco plain packaging laws by years.</p>
<p>For poorer nations such costs are an even greater deterrent. Uruguay, for example, won its six-year plain-packaging <a href="https://theconversation.com/philip-morris-gets-its-ash-kicked-in-uruguay-where-will-it-next-blow-smoke-62933">battle with Phillip Morris</a> only with aid from US billionaire Michael Bloomberg. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/chinas-tobacco-industry-is-building-schools-and-no-one-is-watching-120961">China's tobacco industry is building schools and no one is watching</a>
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<p>Tobacco companies also have a history of using other means to get their way. In South Africa in 2017, for example, British American Tobacco <a href="https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/companies/bat-may-close-sa-cigarette-plant-7989891">threatened to close</a> its local cigarette factory if the government pursued plain packaging laws. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-next-battles-against-tobacco-must-be-fought-in-the-worlds-major-cities-123304">The next battles against tobacco must be fought in the world’s major cities</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>With about <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tobacco">80% of the world’s 1.3 billion smokers</a> living in low and middle income countries, we can expect tobacco interests to rely on their financial might, if not their legal right, to defend their profits.</p>
<p>Their war against the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28701584/">human right to health</a> will continue.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Correction: This article has been amended to clarify the costs incurred by the Australian government in defending the case brought by Philip Morris under the provisions of 1993 Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement. The original article cited legal fees of A$50 million based on multiple media reports from <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/australia-faces-50m-legal-bill-in-cigarette-plain-packaging-fight-with-philip-morris-20150728-gim4xo.html">2015</a> to <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/philip-morris-ordered-to-pay-australia-millions-in-costs-for-plain-packaging-case-20170709-gx7mv5.html">2017</a>. Information since released, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jul/02/revealed-39m-cost-of-defending-australias-tobacco-plain-packaging-laws">including under Freedom of Information laws</a>, suggest it is possible the A$50 million estimate might have included costs of other plain packaging cases. In the Philip Morris case, Australia successfully claimed A$23,045,242.33 in costs for legal representation. Philip Morris was ordered to pay A$11,522,621.17. We regret the error made in the editing process and thank readers for helping us correct the record.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140439/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Genevieve Wilkinson has received funding through an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship and the Quentin Bryce Law Doctoral Scholarship. </span></em></p>Australia has won a decisive victory against tobacco interests using trade deals to challenge plain packaging laws. But don’t expect that to deter similar threats against other nations.Genevieve Wilkinson, Lecturer in Intellectual Property and Human Rights, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1384962020-06-02T13:50:54Z2020-06-02T13:50:54Z‘Pharming’ for a vaccine: the answer to coronavirus may be in tobacco plants<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336360/original/file-20200520-152338-15ks5gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=510%2C139%2C4485%2C2853&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We don’t know how long it will take to find a vaccine for COVID-19, but we do know this: if and when we find one, there will be unprecedented demand for the molecules that go into it.</p>
<p>Several different types of vaccine are <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01221-y">currently being researched</a>. These include those that use inactivated forms of the virus itself and molecules that look <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02756-5">like the virus</a>. The body recognises these molecules when they are injected and produces proteins called antibodies that protect us from threats like viruses. It may also be possible to treat COVID-19 patients with antibodies <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/coronavirus-covid-19-antibody-treatment/">directly</a>. </p>
<p>All of these approaches will require us to mass-produce active molecules, and quickly. But how do we do that? The question predates our current pandemic.</p>
<p>Last year, the search for an answer took us to the tobacco fields of Spain and Italy because, as strange as it sounds, the tobacco plant might provide a novel way to meet this <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01063-8">huge demand</a>.</p>
<h2>Big farmer meets big pharma</h2>
<p>Today, the basic components of vaccines are produced using mammal, bacteria and yeast cell cultures in containers called bioreactors. These basic components are produced in controlled environments to strict specifications.</p>
<p>For a number of years, however, researchers have demonstrated that plants can act as bioreactors just like cell cultures. Plants have been a rich source of pharmacologically important compounds throughout history, but it has only recently become possible – thanks to biotechnology – to modify plants to grow important compounds in a targeted way. This is known as “pharming”.</p>
<p>Not only might this be a cheaper way to produce in-demand molecules, but, potentially, vastly more scaleable.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336398/original/file-20200520-152284-1drauan.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336398/original/file-20200520-152284-1drauan.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336398/original/file-20200520-152284-1drauan.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336398/original/file-20200520-152284-1drauan.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336398/original/file-20200520-152284-1drauan.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336398/original/file-20200520-152284-1drauan.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336398/original/file-20200520-152284-1drauan.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336398/original/file-20200520-152284-1drauan.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Using plants for a coronavirus vaccine could be a cheaper alternative to using cell cultures.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If plants can be harnessed for this purpose, it could lead to new industries and alternatives for <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32273621/">pharmaceutical companies</a>. Lower and middle income countries could particularly benefit from this low-tech option, because cell culture alternatives require <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24119183/">greater upfront investment</a>. To this end, dedicated pharming facilities have recently opened in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0958166919301041">Brazil and South Africa</a>.</p>
<p>Pharming for molecules is not restricted to medical applications, either. It’s also possible to grow nutritional, cosmetic and industrial molecules in <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27049632/">plants</a>.</p>
<h2>The lab mouse of the plant world</h2>
<p>It may seem counter-intuitive that the answer to a global pandemic could be produced in the leaves of one of the world’s most deadly plants. But there are good reasons why the tobacco plant, <em>Nicotiana tabacum</em>, and its relative <em>N. benthamiana</em> are common plants for pharming.</p>
<p>Both are easily modified and together they have become known as the lab mice of the plant science world, in part due to tobacco’s economic importance. </p>
<p>Tobacco has all the properties we need when selecting a pharming platform: it is quick-growing, leafy and there are people familiar with growing it all over the world. Several laboratories have already seen success in using it to grow antibodies for <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24256218/">the treatment of HIV</a> and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26946569/">the Ebola virus</a>.</p>
<p>So it’s perhaps no surprise that British American Tobacco recently announced its ambition to produce between <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/apr/01/british-american-tobacco-plant-based-coronavirus-vaccine">one to three million doses</a> of a potential coronavirus vaccine using tobacco. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336391/original/file-20200520-152292-fygyl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336391/original/file-20200520-152292-fygyl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336391/original/file-20200520-152292-fygyl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336391/original/file-20200520-152292-fygyl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336391/original/file-20200520-152292-fygyl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336391/original/file-20200520-152292-fygyl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336391/original/file-20200520-152292-fygyl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336391/original/file-20200520-152292-fygyl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Spain is one of the largest tobacco producers in Europe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These efforts rely on contained, indoor production. But to produce at scale, we would need to pharm outdoors. That’s why we visited Spain and Italy – two of Europe’s largest producers of tobacco – last year, in order to speak with farmers and their cooperatives to see if they would be interested in becoming pharmers. The response, which will be published in a forthcoming research paper, was largely positive. Tobacco farmers saw this as an opportunity to increase profit in a shrinking European market and de-stigmatise a crop they want to keep growing.</p>
<h2>Don’t bet the pharm yet</h2>
<p>Pharming is not without its problems, some of which go beyond the technical.</p>
<p>It has been a long road since the first plant was used a vehicle for pharming, partially because of the need to demonstrate that plant-derived molecules are as safe and reliable as those that come from cell cultures, which we understand far better and are already the <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0229952">preferred platform</a> for pharmaceutical companies.</p>
<p>But it is also because pharming requires genetic modification, a famously controversial issue with the public. (Concern over genetic modification does not appear to extend to cell culture technologies, which also often rely on modified microorganisms.)</p>
<p>European legislation is a <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/07/european-court-ruling-raises-hurdles-crispr-crops">huge barrier</a>. This means pharming is currently confined to heavily controlled spaces such as laboratories and has limited one of pharming’s greatest assets: the fact that it could be done at large scale in open fields.</p>
<p>The strict rules around pharmaceutical production also pose a big challenge for outdoor pharming, despite the fact that at least one US-based company has demonstrated that it is possible to produce <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17255841/">therapeutic molecules in the field</a>.</p>
<p>Combining biotechnology with a crop surrounded by considerable controversy for understandable reasons could prove equally challenging, especially if Big Tobacco companies are involved.</p>
<p>But the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32371057/">potential is there</a> for us to produce vaccines and therapeutics safely and at scale, using the tobacco plant for good instead of harming people’s health. And as COVID-19 sweeps the globe, there’s never been more of a need to do so.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138496/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Menary receives funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 programme.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julian Ma is a scientific advisory board member for Leaf Systems. He receives public research funding from the European Commission through its Horizon 2020 programme and is supported by the Hotung Charitable Foundation. His is a member of the Organising committee for the International Society for Plant Molecular Farming.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pascal Drake receives funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 programme. </span></em></p>Tobacco has imposed a terrible toll on global health, but it could be used to produce the molecules we need to fight COVID-19.Jonathan Menary, Senior Research Associate, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster UniversityJulian Ma, Hotung Chair of Molecular Immunology, St George's, University of LondonPascal M.W. Drake, Lecturer in the Institute for Infection and Immunity, St George's, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1019312018-08-23T15:12:29Z2018-08-23T15:12:29ZBig Tobacco is consistently overstating black market in cigarettes – new findings<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233256/original/file-20180823-149481-2rzsyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/closeup-tobacco-cigarettes-background-texture-183598919?src=VXyBXffAvLLpYmU9npakdw-1-72">underworld</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>What’s the size of the black market in tobacco and who is behind it? These questions have dogged governments, public health advocates, researchers and the tobacco industry for years. The world’s biggest tobacco companies spend millions on research to produce answers – commissioning reports which often conclude that the trade in illicit tobacco is on the rise.</p>
<p>The big tobacco companies routinely use these findings to argue that every tobacco control policy will lead to increases in smuggling – claiming higher taxes <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/add.12159">encourage</a> more people to buy cigarettes illegally, for example, or that <a href="https://theconversation.com/plain-cigarette-packaging-is-the-government-stalling-as-election-approaches-35438">plain packaging</a> makes it <a href="https://www.bath.ac.uk/case-studies/debunking-big-tobaccos-arguments-against-standardised-packaging/">easier</a> for counterfeiters to copy big brands. </p>
<p>Yet there are major problems with this industry-funded data. When compared with independent sources, they consistently overestimate the scale of illicit tobacco. They also frequently fail to meet the quality and transparency standards of peer-reviewed research. This raises fresh questions about an industry that has a <a href="https://theconversation.com/it-was-big-tobacco-not-trump-that-wrote-the-post-truth-rule-book-75782">long history</a> of using <a href="https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/22/1/1">research</a> and obfuscation to deceive policymakers and the public – not to mention an <a href="http://www.who.int/fctc/publications/The_TI_and_the_Illicit_Trade_in_Tobacco_Products.pdf">intimate involvement</a> with the tobacco smuggling it now <a href="http://the-tma.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Tackling-Illicit-Tobacco_Briefing_Sheet_WEB.pdf">claims</a> it helps to prevent. </p>
<h2>Our research</h2>
<p>Many independent papers and reports have assessed industry-funded data on illicit tobacco. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2018-054295">Our research</a>, newly published in Tobacco Control, is the first to systematically review these assessments to examine the wider trend. </p>
<p>We collected 35 assessments, 25 of which focused on research about a single country – most commonly Australia or the UK – while the remainder either focused on a region or a combination of a region and countries. Eighteen assessments were peer reviewed, while all but one of the industry-funded data sources they examined were not. </p>
<p>In 31 of the assessments, the industry-funded estimates of the black market were higher than the reviewer’s estimates – ranging from 17% higher to well over 100%. In 29 assessments, there were criticisms of the methods used to gather the industry-funded data. For example, surveys of used cigarette packs/tobacco pouches were only collected in towns and cities, where illicit products are likely more common.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233257/original/file-20180823-149484-3li58p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233257/original/file-20180823-149484-3li58p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233257/original/file-20180823-149484-3li58p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233257/original/file-20180823-149484-3li58p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233257/original/file-20180823-149484-3li58p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233257/original/file-20180823-149484-3li58p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233257/original/file-20180823-149484-3li58p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233257/original/file-20180823-149484-3li58p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Spot the difference.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/blur-many-cigarettes-on-shelves-sale-559550167?src=VHLjLWg0cXT-oh1tpZAOSw-1-94">khlungcenter</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Problems with the data analysis were raised in 22 assessments; while 21 had concerns about presentation, such as failures to highlight when tobacco industry products, rather than counterfeits, comprised the majority of an illicit market. There were also consistent complaints that industry-funded reports failed to clearly convey research methods, making it harder to verify findings.</p>
<p>Our paper concludes that “the quality of industry data on illicit tobacco as a whole is below the expected standard to be considered reliable”. We add that the consistency of this “may indicate that the tobacco industry is deliberately producing misleading data” on this topic.</p>
<h2>The bigger picture</h2>
<p>In the 1990s, there was <a href="http://www.who.int/fctc/publications/The_TI_and_the_Illicit_Trade_in_Tobacco_Products.pdf">overwhelming evidence</a> that Big Tobacco was involved in the illicit tobacco market. According to <a href="https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/tobaccocontrol/7/1/66.full.pdf">estimates</a> at the time, one third of global annual cigarette exports could not be accounted for through legal distribution routes. </p>
<p>We have <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4382920/">written elsewhere</a> about how this was a <a href="https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/23/e1/e75">core part</a> of companies’ business strategies. Products being sent to markets often <a href="https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/17/6/399">greatly exceeded</a> what the local population could consume alone. In some cases, distributors were even <a href="https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/13/suppl_2/ii104">tasked specifically</a> with smuggling tobacco company products. The reason tobacco companies would be attracted to the black market is that they get paid when they sell products to a distributor, regardless of how they are sold. As the products sold illegally are cheaper, this potentially translates into higher sales.</p>
<p>By the end of the 2000s, the industry was subject to state investigations, court <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/nov/07/smoking.eu">actions</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/canada-us-rjreynolds-settlement-idCATRE63C3WC20100413">fines</a> and much negative publicity. The world’s four biggest tobacco companies – Philip Morris International (PMI), British American Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco and Japan Tobacco – had all signed <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/anti-fraud/investigations/eu-revenue/cigarette_smuggling_en">legal agreements</a> with the EU to cooperate in stamping out illicit tobacco. In Canada, subsidiaries of Japan Tobacco and British American, and a company partly owned by PMI had all <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/canada-us-rjreynolds-settlement-idCATRE63C3WC20100413">pled guilty</a> to tobacco smuggling and were collectively fined C$1.7 billion (£1 billion).</p>
<p>Nowadays, the tobacco industry argues it is the victim of the illicit market, <a href="http://the-tma.org.uk/policy-legislation/tobacco-smuggling-crossborder-shopping/counterfeit/">emphasising the role</a> of counterfeit cigarettes. Yet there is evidence that the industry has never stopped benefiting from the illicit market – though the major companies deny this. Research we published recently <a href="https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/23/e1/e35">showed</a> that around two-thirds of illicit cigarettes worldwide originate from the tobacco companies themselves, while fewer than one in ten are counterfeits. At this time, there is no sufficiently reliable data about the scale of the black market in tobacco overall. </p>
<p>At best, however, tobacco companies are failing to control their supply chain – <a href="https://www.icij.org/investigations/tobacco-underground/ukraines-lost-cigarettes-flood-europe/">overproducing</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/nov/16/bat-fined-for-oversupplying-tobacco-in-low-tax-european-jurisdictions">oversupplying</a> tobacco products, leading to some spilling into the illegal market. Meanwhile, evidence from <a href="https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2018/06/13/tobaccocontrol-2017-054191#ref-36">leaked documents</a> and <a href="https://www.reportingproject.net/troubleswithbigtobacco/">whistleblowers</a> suggests some tobacco companies were actively involved in the trade as recently as this decade. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233258/original/file-20180823-149490-mszf5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233258/original/file-20180823-149490-mszf5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233258/original/file-20180823-149490-mszf5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233258/original/file-20180823-149490-mszf5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233258/original/file-20180823-149490-mszf5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233258/original/file-20180823-149490-mszf5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233258/original/file-20180823-149490-mszf5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233258/original/file-20180823-149490-mszf5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Going cheap.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cairo-egypt-29122014-kids-smoking-on-1062529136?src=Uvzq1fJ_XiiUcyCr6Zda8g-1-11">Photo Spirit</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As part of the global effort to address tobacco smuggling, the World Health Organisation’s <a href="http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/42811/9241591013.pdf?sequence=1">Framework Convention on Tobacco Control</a>, the <a href="http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/80873/9789241505246_eng.pdf?sequence=1">Illicit Trade Protocol</a>, comes into force in September. One key measure of the protocol is a global system to track and trace tobacco products. This system will determine where a product is produced, enabling investigation of it if it ends up on the illicit market.</p>
<p>The protocol specifies that this system must not be controlled by tobacco companies. Nevertheless, tobacco companies have <a href="https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2018/06/13/tobaccocontrol-2017-054191">assiduously</a> promoted their own <a href="https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/23/e1/e3">inadequate</a> and <a href="https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2018/02/26/tobaccocontrol-2017-053970">inefficient</a> alternative. Codentify was patented by PMI in the mid-2000s, and licensed for free to the company’s main competitors in 2010. They <a href="https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2018/06/13/tobaccocontrol-2017-054191#ref-65">collectively agreed</a> to promote this system to governments in a way that made it seem independent. This was done using <a href="https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2018/06/13/tobaccocontrol-2017-054191">various</a> front groups and third parties. </p>
<p>The industry’s involvement in Codentify was nevertheless <a href="https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/23/e1/e3">exposed</a>, so it attempted to distance itself. In 2016 the system was sold to a company called Inexto, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jun/14/tobacco-industry-seeking-to-control-anti-smuggling-measures-say-critics">PMI claimed</a> Codentify now complied with WHO requirements. Yet some staff <a href="https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2018/06/13/tobaccocontrol-2017-054191">at Inexto</a> appear to be long-time PMI employees credited with creating Codentify, while it also seems that a complex web of shared intellectual property interests exists between these individuals and the two companies. The tobacco industry <a href="https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2018/06/13/tobaccocontrol-2017-054191">is still doing</a> all that it can to have this system implemented as the global track and trace standard. </p>
<p>Our new findings about industry data are further evidence that the tobacco industry is not playing a straight bat over illicit tobacco. The data enables these companies to promote conclusions about the scale and nature of the illicit trade which cannot be easily disproved. This primarily appears to serve as a platform for the industry’s lobbying and public relations strategies. </p>
<p>Bloomberg Philanthropies <a href="https://www.bath.ac.uk/announcements/major-funding-announcement-puts-bath-tcrg-at-centre-of-new-20-million-global-industry-watchdog/">recently announced</a> a US$20m (£16m) investment to create STOP – a global monitoring system to expose practices such as these. Our <a href="http://www.bath.ac.uk/health/research/tobacco-control/">Tobacco Control Research Group</a> at the University of Bath is one of three partners funded to lead this initiative. We cannot afford to let the industry operate under the cover of darkness. This new partnership will serve as a necessary spotlight.</p>
<p>The Tobacco Manufacturers’ Association, which represents British American Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco and Japan Tobacco subsidiary Gallaher, said it would not be responding to this article. </p>
<p>A spokesman for PMI said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Illegal cigarette trade hurts our business and revenues – we have a strong interest to reduce it. We invest significant resources to ensure strong controls in our supply chain and tackle the diversion of our products. We also support strict regulation and enforcement measures.</p>
<p>PMI is not in the track and trace business. We believe that the best way of ensuring this is through a range of independently approved, open standard track and trace systems, competing in a free market.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101931/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Allen Gallagher receives funding via the Tobacco Control Research Group from Bloomberg Philanthropies, Cancer Research UK and the National Institute of Health Research. The TCRG is part of the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies (UKCTAS), a UK Centre for Public Health Excellence funded by the UK Clinical Research Collaboration, and the Tobacco Control Capacity Programme funded by Research Councils UK as part of the Global Challenges Research Fund.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Gilmore receives funding via the Tobacco Control Research Group from Bloomberg Philanthropies, Cancer Research UK and the National Institute of Health Research. The TCRG is part of the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies (UKCTAS), a UK Centre for Public Health Excellence funded by the UK Clinical Research Collaboration, and the Tobacco Control Capacity Programme funded by Research Councils UK as part of the Global Challenges Research Fund.</span></em></p>How industry-funded data on tobacco smuggling exaggerates the scale of the problem.Allen Gallagher, Doctoral Researcher, University of BathAnna Gilmore, Professor of Public Health/Director, Tobacco Control Research Group, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/974892018-06-01T11:04:07Z2018-06-01T11:04:07Z‘Disneyland for Big Tobacco’: how Indonesia’s lax smoking laws are helping next generation to get hooked<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221157/original/file-20180531-69511-j75arj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dangerous inhalation.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/black_claw/18931630679/in/photolist-4k4xMs-3ei5nN-LR2nai-3edFsX-7GSbaH-pVz5MM-u9Bk6h-VtTtUK-Q8XxFA-q4J3Kn-5wNA8E-5tk2CY-5tmJQq-8FRdus-9zSqmn-5tj4Ab-5tfVzt-5tjEna-6y97hd-5tJeYz-rysq64-dwhDDd-7GSbb2-vPNSf-3itgN-9cn2CA-JfNm1k-DmNmT-aqQb3a-H7pspD-3itWC-q4srq1-aqSRh1-sW4Sp3-NtT7L7-vrgRM9-vc8yGa-vc15zm-vtzCCK-uQVyev-L1TYW5-MJgrCf-Lwb5Db-qnKwYs-vc13fm-vc8xjk-vrgPgN-svfxRB-9piGmw-5tjhfj">Farhan Perdana</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>With more than 260m people, Indonesia is the biggest economy in South-East Asia. The country’s <a href="https://www.indonesia-investments.com/culture/population/item67?">young population</a> – 37% are under the age of 20 – is one of its greatest strengths. But Indonesia’s potential and productivity are being threatened by the number of deaths associated with smoking. </p>
<p>Of the 10% of the world’s smokers <a href="https://seatca.org/dmdocuments/The%20Tobacco%20Control%20Atlas%20ASEAN%20Region%203rd%20Edition%202016.pdf">who live</a> in South-East Asia, half are in Indonesia. It is estimated that smoking-related diseases <a href="https://seatca.org/dmdocuments/The%20Tobacco%20Control%20Atlas%20ASEAN%20Region%203rd%20Edition%202016.pdf">kill nearly 250,000 Indonesians</a> every year. </p>
<p>The 76% of males aged 15+ <a href="https://tobaccoatlas.org/country/indonesia/">who smoke</a> is the highest rate in the world – and the <a href="https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/problem/toll-global/asia/indonesia">next generation</a> show every sign of following in their footsteps. In addition, 20% of 13-15 year olds smoke, which is the highest figure in the region. Even before the age of ten, 20% of children have tried a cigarette – and by the age of 13 it’s more like 90%. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221163/original/file-20180531-69484-k1lfsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221163/original/file-20180531-69484-k1lfsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221163/original/file-20180531-69484-k1lfsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221163/original/file-20180531-69484-k1lfsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221163/original/file-20180531-69484-k1lfsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221163/original/file-20180531-69484-k1lfsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221163/original/file-20180531-69484-k1lfsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221163/original/file-20180531-69484-k1lfsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fishermen at Bancar in East Java.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/adamcohn/28889840024/in/photolist-4k4xMs-3ei5nN-LR2nai-3edFsX-7GSbaH-pVz5MM-u9Bk6h-VtTtUK-Q8XxFA-q4J3Kn-5wNA8E-5tk2CY-5tmJQq-8FRdus-9zSqmn-5tj4Ab-5tfVzt-5tjEna-6y97hd-5tJeYz-rysq64-dwhDDd-7GSbb2-vPNSf-3itgN-9cn2CA-JfNm1k-DmNmT-aqQb3a-H7pspD-3itWC-q4srq1-aqSRh1-sW4Sp3-NtT7L7-vrgRM9-vc8yGa-vc15zm-vtzCCK-uQVyev-L1TYW5-MJgrCf-Lwb5Db-qnKwYs-vc13fm-vc8xjk-vrgPgN-svfxRB-9piGmw-5tjhfj">Adam Cohn</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Statistics like these explain why Indonesia is the <a href="https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/assets/global/pdfs/en/Global_Cigarette_Industry_pdf.pdf">second biggest</a> market for tobacco in the world after China, <a href="https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/problem/toll-global/asia/indonesia">selling</a> more than 315 billion cigarettes a year. The country <a href="https://seatca.org/dmdocuments/The%20Tobacco%20Control%20Atlas%20ASEAN%20Region%203rd%20Edition%202016.pdf">also exports</a> vastly more cigarettes than it imports. The industry produces <a href="https://www.statista.com/outlook/50010000/120/cigarettes/indonesia#market-revenue">annual sales</a> of over US$21 billion (£16 billion), with growth forecast at around 5% a year. </p>
<p>Tobacco contributes <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-tobacco/indonesia-tobacco-bill-would-open-tap-for-ads-aimed-at-kids-health-official-says-idUSKBN18S47O">approximately</a> 10% of all Indonesian tax revenue and <a href="http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/PubDocsError.jsp?err_msg=Document%20is%20not%20available%20for%20public%20viewing">employs</a> some 2.5m workers in farming and manufacturing. Little wonder the country is <a href="https://asiapacificreport.nz/2016/06/05/indonesia-on-track-to-having-worlds-highest-smoking-rates/">planning to</a> double tobacco production within the next decade. </p>
<h2>Market leaders</h2>
<p>Five players control over three quarters of the market in Indonesia. The leader is HM Sampoerna, 92.5% owned by Philip Morris International – which also makes Marlboro cigarettes. Then come a couple of Indonesian conglomerates: Gudang Garam and Djarum, both of which are known for traditional kretek or clove cigarettes. Fourth is British American Tobacco, with another Indonesian group, Nojorono Tobacco, in fifth (the <a href="https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/problem/toll-global/asia/indonesia">source</a> of these numbers is anti-smoking group Tobacco Free Kids).</p>
<p><strong>Indonesia’s Big Five</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221429/original/file-20180602-142089-1vj3vxl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221429/original/file-20180602-142089-1vj3vxl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221429/original/file-20180602-142089-1vj3vxl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=322&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221429/original/file-20180602-142089-1vj3vxl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=322&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221429/original/file-20180602-142089-1vj3vxl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=322&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221429/original/file-20180602-142089-1vj3vxl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221429/original/file-20180602-142089-1vj3vxl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221429/original/file-20180602-142089-1vj3vxl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/problem/toll-global/asia/indonesia">Tobacco Free Kids</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These companies have long had significant political and financial influence in Indonesia. The government consults the industry over proposed changes to tobacco policy, but the rules don’t often seem to be tightened up. </p>
<p>Indonesia is the only country in Asia that <a href="http://www.who.int/fctc/signatories_parties/en/">has not</a> signed and ratified the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention of Tobacco Control (FCTC) – even China is on board and making steady progress. The framework
includes restrictions on the extent to which tobacco companies can lobby governments, as well as sales to children and passive smoking. It also recognises that a complete ban on tobacco marketing activities is the most effective way of reducing youth smoking uptake. </p>
<p>The Indonesian government <a href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2017/03/16/jokowi-opts-to-kill-tobacco-bill.html">believes that</a> stricter tobacco controls could damage the industry, citing concerns for farmers and other tobacco workers. It is certainly true that the <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/28582">majority of</a> tobacco workers are vulnerable and live in poverty, but this industry also supports four Indonesian conglomerates whose owners have a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/indonesia-billionaires/list/#tab:overall">combined net worth</a> of around $43 billion. </p>
<h2>Youth targeting</h2>
<p>While the majority of South-East Asian countries – led by Singapore, Brunei and Thailand – are <a href="https://seatca.org/dmdocuments/The%20Tobacco%20Control%20Atlas%20ASEAN%20Region%203rd%20Edition%202016.pdf">making good progress</a> towards a comprehensive ban on tobacco marketing, Indonesia remains lenient. This has earned the country <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3563903/">the nickname</a>, the “tobacco industry’s Disneyland”. </p>
<p>It feels particularly appropriate considering how many children <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2017/08/30/health/chain-smoking-children-tobacco-indonesia/index.html">get attracted</a> to smoking. Individual cigarettes are sold as cheaply as $0.07 each. A pack of 20 Marlboro can be bought for $1.55, compared to around $20 in Australia. Indonesia’s laws state that cigarettes can only be sold to and consumed by adults aged 18 and above, but no penalties are imposed for retailers who sell them to youngsters. </p>
<p><strong>Tobacco consumption, select countries</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221176/original/file-20180531-69521-o24ny1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221176/original/file-20180531-69521-o24ny1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221176/original/file-20180531-69521-o24ny1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=275&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221176/original/file-20180531-69521-o24ny1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=275&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221176/original/file-20180531-69521-o24ny1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=275&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221176/original/file-20180531-69521-o24ny1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221176/original/file-20180531-69521-o24ny1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221176/original/file-20180531-69521-o24ny1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://tobaccoatlas.org">Tobacco Atlas</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Indonesia is the only country in the region that still allows direct tobacco advertising. To reduce exposure to children and teenagers, advertising is restricted on TV and radio to between 9.30pm and 5am. But youngsters are still exposed through billboards, roadside stalls, music concerts, sporting events and the internet. There are shops and restaurants branded with tobacco advertising everywhere. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/afb09252-b2fb-11e2-95b3-00144feabdc0">tobacco</a> companies <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/09/how-children-around-the-world-are-exposed-to-cigarette-advertising">deny</a> that their <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/big-tobacco-targeting-youth-indonesia/story?id=16712181">advertising</a> targets under-18s, but I don’t find this very convincing. The messaging uses themes that are likely to be very attractive to young people, such as humour, adventure, bravery and success. The hip young designers in this advert for the Gudang Garam’s GG Mild brand are a good example:</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_ulaZYgXzdM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>This advert for Sampoerna’s A Mild seems like a clarion call to the younger generation, with its mopeds, guitars and street acrobatics:</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KHPtSrS6Ys0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>One more example is Djarum’s LA Bold advertising. Melding shadow boxing, young men in sharp suits and fawning girls, the voiceover declares: “I rule the world because I live Bold.” </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nQU_emK1WBA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The industry also positions itself as integral to society via corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sponsorship. Much of this directly involves young people. Sampoerna has developed its own educational pathway called <a href="http://sampoernaschools.com">Sampoerna School System</a>, which distributes scholarships, supports underprivileged schools and trains teachers and principals. </p>
<p>Djarum sponsors Djarum Superliga Badminton and <a href="http://www.djarumfoundation.org/program/">establishes</a> sports training academies for young talents. Gudang Garam actively sponsors events and festivals which target digital natives, referring to them as “<a href="http://growinc.id/portfolio/generation-g-style-new-generation-campaign-case-study/">Generation G</a>”. </p>
<p>In South-East Asia, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam have all banned tobacco companies from using their CSR activities to attract publicity, while Brunei has banned them from such activities altogether. Indonesia has a comparable ban on tobacco CSR publicity, but such activities are still well publicised in the media and the government <a href="http://www.djarum.com/brands/domestic-brands/djarum-super/">endorses</a> and <a href="https://ppksampoerna.com/en/kegiatan-kami/ppk-sampoerna-expo/">even participates</a> in them. </p>
<p>In short, Indonesia has a big problem with tobacco. In particular, the government needs to urgently do more to protect children, since they’re not experienced enough to make well-informed choices. There needs to be a complete ban on tobacco advertising, along with stricter measures around sales – and these need rigorously enforced. Tobacco-related sponsorship and CSR must also be banned – whatever contribution they make to society is outweighed by the harm. </p>
<p>At a time when most countries in the region are moving in the right direction over tobacco, Indonesia urgently needs to follow suit.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97489/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nathalia Tjandra receives funding from the Carnegie Trust. </span></em></p>While many of its Asian neighbours are striving to get smoking under control, Indonesia is the stubborn exception.Nathalia Tjandra, Lecturer in Marketing, Edinburgh Napier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/553142016-02-24T05:52:58Z2016-02-24T05:52:58ZIt’s no guess Leyonhjelm’s tobacco inquiry will recommend reducing the tax<p>When it comes to tobacco control, you can determine the most effective policies by using the litmus test of how the tobacco industry reacts. This has long been called the “scream test”.</p>
<p>It was obvious the industry wasn’t quaking about falls in sales when they funded <a href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/8/1/14.2.full?sid=ddc60255-9cc2-442d-9568-75d8787fe86b">school education kits</a>, fronted by controversial academic <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/school-review-panellist-kevin-donnelly-linked-to-tobacco-giant-20140111-30nrv.html">Kevin Donnelly</a>, urging children to “trust their own decisions” about smoking. Or when they install earnest and forgettable point-of-sale signs in shops about how smoking is only for adults.</p>
<p>As one internal Philip Morris <a href="https://industrydocuments.library.ucsf.edu/tobacco/docs/#id=fzjx0111">memo</a> from the 1970s put it when discussing how the company might suck up to health authorities in Hong Kong:</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112698/original/image-20160224-29156-1cl5egr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112698/original/image-20160224-29156-1cl5egr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=148&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112698/original/image-20160224-29156-1cl5egr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=148&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112698/original/image-20160224-29156-1cl5egr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=148&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112698/original/image-20160224-29156-1cl5egr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=186&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112698/original/image-20160224-29156-1cl5egr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=186&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112698/original/image-20160224-29156-1cl5egr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=186&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">HUNG, S. SMOKING & HEALTH MEETING. 1973 February 14. Philip Morris.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://industrydocuments.library.ucsf.edu/tobacco/docs/[ID]">Screenshot, UCSF Library</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So when they cry blue murder about the civilisation-ending potential of a policy, it’s not rocket science that they appreciate its threat to their bottom-line. </p>
<p>As I explain in this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3ygACMbDbg&t=10m12s">video</a>, the brand-by-brand, day-by-day, shop-by-shop national data each company has on cigarette sales gives them precise knowledge of the immediate and long term impact of any change in any aspect of tobacco control.</p>
<p>If there was ever a moment when we saw the tobacco industry in the coldest of sweats, it was in August 2011, when British American Tobacco Australia’s (BATA) CEO David Crow addressed a <a href="http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:committees%2Fcommrep%2F8140767d-6a40-4d29-a10b-57085015bf4e%2F0001">Senate committee</a> considering the planned introduction of plain packaging. He said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>What I do believe is that … if the objective is to reduce consumption then you would move towards areas which have been evidence-based not only in this country but in others around the world … We understand that the price going up when the excise goes up reduces consumption. We saw that last year very effectively with the increase in excise. There was a 25% increase in the excise and we saw the volumes go down by about 10.2%; there was about a 10.2% reduction in the industry last year in Australia. So there are ways of achieving the objectives that do not infringe on the property rights, do not breach the laws and the international commitments and do not mean that the Australian government would have to compensate people.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Crow is a tobacco executive, not a public health advisor on how to reduce smoking. But he offered some great advice anyway. In his desperation to avoid plain pack legislation, he almost begged the government to continue using measures such as tax. Measures that by his own admission would literally decimate the sales of his industry’s product. The implications regarding the impact of plain packaging were obvious.</p>
<p>In fact, the tax hit was worse than his predicted 10.2% figure. A <a href="http://ris.finance.gov.au/files/2013/05/03-25-per-cent-Excise-for-Tobacco.pdf">Treasury paper</a> reported that while a fall in consumption of 6% had been predicted for the 25% lift in April 2010’s tobacco tax, the impact was nearly double that - at 11%.</p>
<h2>One in six cigarettes illegally obtained?</h2>
<p>During the run-up to the introduction of plain packs, BATA poured out a Niagara of tweets claiming the legislation would cause a massive increase in people purchasing illegal tobacco; either loose “chop chop” or smuggled fully branded packs in nicer boxes. </p>
<p>The tweets implied people would be so horrified at having to handle the new garish plain packs with their large graphic health warnings, that they would seek out illegal supplies.</p>
<p>In our free online book telling the story of plain packaging, from <a href="http://ses.library.usyd.edu.au//bitstream/2123/12257/7/9781743324295_Chapman_RemovingtheEmperorsClothes_FT.pdf">page 70</a>, we summarise no less than ten reports by consultancy firms PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte and KPMG, into the alleged size of the illicit trade in Australia. </p>
<p>Published since 2005 and commissioned by the tobacco industry, the reports often have stop-in-your-tracks caveats like: “We have not audited or otherwise verified the accuracy or completeness of the information, and, to that extent, the information contained in this report may not be accurate or reliable.”</p>
<p>But they served the purpose of industry press release headlines screaming that between one in six and one in seven of all cigarettes being smoked in Australia were purchased illegally.</p>
<p>Never mind that the ubiquitous, convenient and price-discounting retail chains like supermarkets, convenience stores chains, hotels, newsagents, petrol stations and specialised tobacconists, have always dominated retail sales. According to the industry, 15% of smokers across the nation were finding their way to shady independents down back alleys. The long queues of all these new customers were somehow completely missed by the federal police and customs investigators, with all their resources and powers.</p>
<h2>Independent data</h2>
<p>So what do data not funded the the tobacco industry show about the extent of illicit tobacco use? </p>
<p>A <a href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/24/Suppl_2/ii76.full.pdf+html">study was conducted </a> from April 2012 (six months before plain packaging) to March 2014 (15 months after), by the Cancer Council Victoria, using national telephone samples of 8,679 smokers.</p>
<p>It found for those buying factory-made cigarettes bought in Australia, there were no significant increases in the use of so-called “cheap whites” (0.1%), international brands costing 20% or more below the recommended retail price (0.2%) or packs purchased from informal sellers (0.1%). The prevalence of any use of unbranded illicit tobacco (“chop chop”) remained around 3% throughout the study period. Unsurprisingly, smokers didn’t ditch legal packs for illegal supplies.</p>
<p>It is instructive to look at British American Tobacco’s <a href="https://twitter.com/BATA_Media?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">twitter feed</a>. You will look long and hard to find a tweet on any subject but the heinous problem of illegal tobacco.</p>
<p>Almost every day, the site churns out the same message, often repeated: the world and Australia are awash with illegal tobacco, shockingly being sold by criminals!</p>
<p>But you won’t find anything on where some of these criminals might source their stock. For instance, in 2014, BAT was <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/nov/16/bat-fined-for-oversupplying-tobacco-in-low-tax-european-jurisdictions">fined £650,000</a> (under appeal) for oversupplying tobacco to low-taxing European countries at levels that could never be consumed in those countries. </p>
<p>This raised concerns that much of this supply would find its way into high-taxing nations as smuggled goods offered for sale.</p>
<h2>Leyonhjelm’s Senate inquiry</h2>
<p>So in the week of the Senate voting electoral reform deal, which signals the political death warrant for micro party senators, we have the blossoming spectacle of one of these, David Leyonhjelm, who initiated a Senate inquiry into tobacco tax in Australia. It will start taking evidence soon. </p>
<p>Leyonhjelm, who has been <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/oct/02/thank-you-for-smoking-leyonhjelm-confirms-philip-morris-backing">backed by Philip Morris</a>, is avowedly against tobacco tax.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Law_Enforcement/Illicit_tobacco">Multiple submissions</a> to the inquiry with identical wording from shopkeepers strongly suggest store owners are being coached or co-opted by predictable interests to support their fantasies of lower taxes.</p>
<p>If price is driving a small proportion of smokers to regularly buy illegal tobacco, and if the tobacco companies with hands on their hearts care deeply about the loss of tax revenue to government, one solution is wide open to them. </p>
<p>Between 2008 and March 2014 (16 months after plain packaging was introduced), tobacco manufacturers raised their margins <a href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/24/Suppl_2/ii90.full.pdf+html">higher than the government raised tobacco tax</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112695/original/image-20160224-16455-1g0lwjp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112695/original/image-20160224-16455-1g0lwjp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112695/original/image-20160224-16455-1g0lwjp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112695/original/image-20160224-16455-1g0lwjp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112695/original/image-20160224-16455-1g0lwjp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=700&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112695/original/image-20160224-16455-1g0lwjp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=700&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112695/original/image-20160224-16455-1g0lwjp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=700&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>They could always reduce these margins. But that option seems even less probable than anyone in government paying attention to what seems likely to be one of Leyonhjelm’s final exercises in spending parliamentary money on his pet obsessions.</p>
<p>The tobacco industry has lost every policy battle it has ever fought in Australia. Surely, no bookmaker will take bets on what the principal recommendation of this wasteful exercise will be: that tobacco tax should fall. </p>
<p>The consequence of that would see more people smoking, and more tobacco-caused death and disease down the track. Evidence-based tobacco control policy has long had the support of all major political parties in Australia. </p>
<p>Today we have the world’s lowest smoking prevalence. It says a lot that the top gun the tobacco industry can get to run their errands is a man who will soon be a footnote in political history. </p>
<p>In the <a href="http://results.aec.gov.au/18126/Website/HouseDivisionFirstPrefs-18126-236.htm">2015 Canning by-election</a>, Leyonhjelm’s party candidate got less votes (492) than the Pirate party (775) and a candidate who had a <a href="http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/canning-byelection-arrest-warrant-for-teresa-van-lieshout-after-court-noshow-20150908-gjhlcl.html">warrant</a> out for her arrest (539).</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/55314/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Surely, no bookmaker will take bets on what the principal recommendation of Leyonhjelm’s wasteful exercise will be: that tobacco tax should fall.Simon Chapman, Emeritus Professor in Public Health, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/464572015-08-30T20:08:29Z2015-08-30T20:08:29ZWe got an FOI request from Big Tobacco – here’s how it went<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93127/original/image-20150827-358-1t141e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'The people of the United Kingdom' felt the tobacco industry’s record of addicting children and then killing one in two of those who don’t escape their clutches did matter. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/smaedli/3623298638/in/photolist-6wbmsb-5Cm4Sd-9ndKXH-e3KPRT-wKpbk8-hruT-95q1qF-4XfFZ5-8xVxdm-4VVshc-9hAfBQ-d43btd-78cThX-qXsuCx-9FBRzD-gwH5Xi-gHfZPD-mVZT68-5ZZ1Zf-kTfrB-kfJu4k-jm8eDF-8rskxA-9ngNGW-8bkE7G-cbHgAh-cZ1PGW-5n7xDE-kevQrA-w7wt8u-3dwD4u-5KkZvc-divYY7-ebpqir-mSBuUr-dcnmVu-n2qtSX-ccWCmQ-agEbFE-bjFevt-n2xyog-oXcHuE-9KJcFs-8PVT1u-gwGdQo-bUm44r-oMB85B-5S1Uun-6xLegp-4guryr">Chad Kainz/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a world where knowledge is power, information is the antidote to oppression. We citizens must know what those at the top are doing if we’re going to hold them to account. That’s why freedom of information (FOI) legislation is a vital element of any functioning democracy; it helps rebalance power. </p>
<p>As the preamble to the <a href="https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-freedom-of-information/what-is-the-foi-act/">UK’s Freedom of Information Act 2000</a> enthuses:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>this White Paper marks a watershed in the relationship between the government and people of the United Kingdom. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>But voters are not the only ones making use of FOI; big business has also spotted an opportunity. The latest examples come from tobacco multinational <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/national/tobacco-company-wants-schools-survey-for-insights-into-children-and-teens-20150819-gj2vto.html">British American Tobacco making FOI requests in Australia</a> for data from surveys about plain packaging for tobacco products.</p>
<p>This is perverse given corporations are among the most powerful entities on earth – far bigger than many countries. World Bank data shows that, in 2011, <a href="http://www.dawnnet.org/feminist-resources/sites/default/files/articles/corporate_influence_in_the_post-2015_process_web.pdf">over 60% of the 175 largest global economic entities</a> were companies not countries, and that this concentration of power is growing rapidly.</p>
<p>Sadly, it seems, whatever the noble intentions of FOI, those with power want to hang on to it. </p>
<h2>In Big Tobacco’s crosshairs</h2>
<p>“Making an FOI request” sounds benign enough, but its effects on individual recipients can be traumatic. Six years ago, my colleagues and I <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/exclusive-smoked-out-tobacco-giants-war-on-science-2347254.html">had our own experience</a> of this very unwelcome sort of attention, when another tobacco multinational, Philip Morris, decided it wanted access to <a href="http://www.stir.ac.uk/health-sciences/research/groups/ctcr/">our research unit’s teen smoking study</a>.</p>
<p>The first we knew of what was to befall us was a peremptory letter from the global law firm Clifford Chance. It demanded a vast array of information, including “all primary data”; “all questionnaires”; “all interviewers’ handbooks and/or instructions”; “all data files”; “all record descriptions” and “all information relating to sampling, data collection, handling of non-response and post-stratification weighting and analysis”. </p>
<p>The letter was framed as a request, but warned us that “under the Act” we were “obliged to respond within 20 working days”. The “or else” was left to our imagination.</p>
<p>At an anxious meeting with the university lawyers, we were advised that we had either to provide the information or, relying solely on the terms of the Act, explain why we would not. And that the repercussions for not doing so were just as serious as the letter implied. </p>
<p>This meant a massive amount of work auditing hundreds of files on what was already a decade-long study. Our response, arguing the material was confidential because we had promised the young people we surveyed that it would only be used by bona fide academic researchers, ran to 60 pages. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93128/original/image-20150827-340-1ptv9nd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93128/original/image-20150827-340-1ptv9nd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93128/original/image-20150827-340-1ptv9nd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93128/original/image-20150827-340-1ptv9nd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93128/original/image-20150827-340-1ptv9nd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93128/original/image-20150827-340-1ptv9nd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93128/original/image-20150827-340-1ptv9nd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tobacco companies have requested survey data on young people’s smoking habits in the UK and in Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/78428166@N00/7531774196/in/photolist-ctyj4N-eWtXhW-48PVQe-5uXb2P-bVxYaR-5WXteR-eWhwCR-eWtXid-4VekxF-vshuLu-4CF5Rm-8zSd5A-vqm2ym-woaArz-pRAZ9V-4FNpUq-dwrdvR-7rrhKX-7rrhQZ-p9hexj-r4utey-6ri46V-5L3M2k-5Dw4kN-cntvR-gJVVbN-4h3SuU-7xQg5T-6dfQ7g-us8VsB-4hnRdf-atmVEL-7n5PJ8-aRMVE8-ekwhB6-7ykPub-oQ3zL-4Yrt6e-vy4J7E-BNVe7-7ME7ub-o3oYex-kd7UdL-7rrhNi-7G4E9-4HYDAw-czQgJh-5b2vip-ET3mG-jASFX">Tony Alter/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>If at first you fail…</h2>
<p>Clifford Chance immediately challenged it and the matter went to the Scottish Information Commissioner for adjudication. The commissioner ruled the initial request illegitimate because the name of the client had not been disclosed. </p>
<p>So, we needn’t have bothered. </p>
<p>Completely unabashed, Philip Morris declared itself, then made a new FOI demand and the whole stressful process began again. So it went on, for two very long years. </p>
<p>We are a university research unit of a dozen people and our funding comes from charitable and public sources. We have no spare capacity. This work had to be done in the evening and at weekends; the worrying was done in the wee small hours. </p>
<p>It stretched us almost to breaking point, and we were left thinking that this was precisely the intention. Our research is a nuisance to tobacco companies. It has shown that advertising does pull children into smoking, that plain packaging discourages uptake, and that in-shop displays are enticing. </p>
<p>It has helped the Scottish and UK governments devise protective legislation, such as the ban on tobacco advertising.</p>
<h2>The people prevail</h2>
<p>But our attempts to use our suspicions about Philip Morris’ nefarious intentions as a reason for refusing the request got nowhere. </p>
<p>The identity of the applicant is irrelevant in FOI. The fact that this was not a request from “the people of the United Kingdom” but a powerful multinational producing an addictive and lethal carcinogen, mattered not a whit.</p>
<p>Fortunately, “the people of the United Kingdom” are more discerning than Westminster policymakers. They felt the tobacco industry’s record of addicting children and then killing one in two of those who don’t escape their clutches <em>did</em> matter. And that its right to information therefore comes way behind the child’s right to privacy and good health. </p>
<p>When the press publicised the story of the FOI request, the outcry was immediate and cacophonous. <a href="http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/unscrupulous-and-deadly-1080775">An editorial in the Daily Record</a> captured the mood as only a tabloid can: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Hell should freeze over before a cigarette company is given help to kill more of our fellow Scots.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We have heard no more from Philip Morris. </p>
<p>It seems FOI does indeed give power to the people, but not quite in the way policymakers intended. And that if power is to be redistributed, it has to be taken away from those at the top as well as given to those at the bottom.</p>
<p><em>Acknowledgement: I’d like to thank my colleagues Anne Marie Mackintosh and Linda Bauld who were also at the centre of this firestorm. Without their support things would have been much more difficult.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46457/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gerard Hastings receives funding from public and charitable research funding agencies including the World Health Organisation and Cancer Research UK. He is affiliated with Amnesty International.</span></em></p>Cancer Council Victoria is contesting British American Tobacco’s request for survey data about teenagers’ smoking habits. Here’s the story of a UK research group who faced a similar request.Gerard Hastings, Professor at the Institute for Social Marketing , University of StirlingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/464082015-08-30T20:08:23Z2015-08-30T20:08:23ZTobacco companies should be free to use freedom of information laws, even if we don’t like it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93277/original/image-20150828-17471-44vzam.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">British American Tobacco says it wants the information to ascertain whether it substantiates government claims about the impact of plain tobacco packaging laws.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sludgeulper/4619212243/">Sludge G/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>News that British American Tobacco is trying to <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/national/tobacco-company-wants-schools-survey-for-insights-into-children-and-teens-20150819-gj2vto.html">access survey data on teenagers and tobacco use</a> from the Victorian Cancer Council through freedom of information (FOI) laws has attracted <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/comment/no-smoke-without-fire-in-big-tobaccos-pr-storm-20150824-gj6v53.html">the ire of public health advocates</a>. </p>
<p>The survey data is supposed to inform the Cancer Council’s anti-smoking strategies. There are concerns that the tobacco company wants access to it for the opposite purpose – to tailor its products and marketing to young people. </p>
<p>But is this a misuse of FOI legislation? And can public agencies resist these types of access requests? If tobacco companies do have the right to access this data, can we do anything to prevent potential harms to public health?</p>
<h2>The purpose of FOI laws</h2>
<p>The Commonwealth and all states and territories have FOI laws. Among other reasons, these laws enhance the transparency of public sector activities <a href="http://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/about-freedom-of-information">and recognise that</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>information gathered by government at public expense is a national resource and should be available more widely to the public.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>FOI laws say government information should be accessible unless public interest in disclosure is <a href="http://www.ipc.nsw.gov.au/applying-law">outweighed by another important interest</a>. The laws protect certain categories of information from being released, such as information related to national security, law enforcement or commercial confidences, and information that could harm someone’s privacy. </p>
<p>If a public agency conducts a survey and the results identify people who answered the survey and their personal details, for instance, the agency generally cannot release that information without the consent of the people involved. </p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/national/tobacco-company-wants-schools-survey-for-insights-into-children-and-teens-20150819-gj2vto.html">the case</a> of British American Tobacco requesting Cancer Council Victoria’s survey data, the results have presumably been de-identified. The concern is not that the names of teenagers who did the survey will be released but that the data will be used to harm public health more generally.</p>
<h2>‘Nefarious’ uses?</h2>
<p>Still, public bodies cannot refuse to disclose information solely on the basis of suspicion that the information will be used for mischievous purposes, or to embarrass the government. </p>
<p>If we believe public sector openness and transparency are important, we have to accept that the right to access information should also be available to those whose views, actions or products we may oppose. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93272/original/image-20150828-17450-1cxz0py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93272/original/image-20150828-17450-1cxz0py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93272/original/image-20150828-17450-1cxz0py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93272/original/image-20150828-17450-1cxz0py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93272/original/image-20150828-17450-1cxz0py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93272/original/image-20150828-17450-1cxz0py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93272/original/image-20150828-17450-1cxz0py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Members of the public might refuse to fill out surveys if they worry about how the data could be used in the future.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/kgs/180103422/in/photolist-gV5tq-9JjnbX-55TwDw-6vvD6J-9gdwxp-gV6kL-6LyXLu-7LkwRJ-p3UydL-8E1kpw-7Zjmb8-7Zny37-7Zny53-7NhEed-8NE4xq-8AEjPS-5teG9-6RZ4j7-53Ct2u-qVjJRR-6Ch8e5-ki2J5u-i8ypmw-7Zny6b-7Zjm8v-7Zny13-7Zny8f-fHDQYy-5iDXH4-5UYwzW-9dXDzN-fwJWW8-cQay4s-9g55dZ-6Vem1s-6twbbX-a9sZF6-4zsVh2-rMNok5-3vjqp6-rQ1q2v-tVLQf-hCh15t-9PyBT3-7oKc5X-xw4JNH-eLXiyT-dDjg2r-bFSsQa-dgM2vc">K.G. Schneider/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We should not give public sector bodies too much discretion to pick and choose the requests they think are nefarious. If we support open government, FOI laws rightly require strong and clear justifications for withholding information from scrutiny.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, British American Tobacco’s FOI request raises some concerns. </p>
<p>First, it could put a damper on public health research; government bodies may hesitate to collect data on health issues if they worry they’ll have turn it over to companies that could use it to undermine public health. And members of the public might refuse to fill out surveys if they worry about how the data could be used in the future. </p>
<p>As already mentioned, tobacco companies might use the data to add to their efforts to entice young people to start smoking. And the move raises a question of whether it foreshadows an onslaught of FOI requests by tobacco, alcohol and junk food companies bent on peddling their products to youth and distracting public agencies from their work.</p>
<h2>Current protections</h2>
<p>There are differences in the wording of FOI laws across the country, but they typically have rules and procedures to deal with some of these concerns. Where a public agency obtained information under the promise of confidentiality, FOI laws might protect its release, if doing so could limit the agency’s ability to collect similar information again. </p>
<p>The laws may protect against “vexatious” requests, including repeated access requests that amount to an abuse of the FOI process. In 2011, the Institute of Public Affairs <a href="http://www.ipa.org.au/sectors/climate-change/news/2450/a-chilling-climate-on-foi/pg/7">submitted hundreds</a> of FOI requests for documents on climate change issues, for instance, <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/national/think-tank-warned-over-climate-information-requests-20110815-1iuta.html?skin=text-only">prompting a government warning</a> that the volume of requests was unreasonable.</p>
<p>In the current FOI dispute, British American Tobacco says it wants the information to ascertain whether it substantiates government claims about the impact of plain tobacco packaging laws. Public bodies should be open about data that tests whether government strategies are helping achieve desired goals, such as reducing tobacco use. </p>
<p>Even if British American Tobacco’s motive is to market cigarettes to youth, restricting its use of FOI laws is not the best legal response, if it helps public bodies generally become more secretive. Instead, we should look for solutions that more directly address the harms of tobacco use, including strengthening and enforcing the laws that prohibit the promotion and sale of tobacco products to young people.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46408/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nola Ries does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Restricting entities such as tobacco companies’ use of FOI laws is not the best legal response if it helps public bodies generally become more secretive.Nola Ries, Senior Lecturer , University of NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.