Tobacco industry strategy to undermine tobacco control in Finland

Objective: To identify and explain tobacco industry strategy in undermining tobacco control measures in Finland and results of these interferences in tobacco policy development during the 1980s and early 1990s.

Methods: Tobacco industry documents, which have been publicly available on the internet as a result of litigation in the USA, were analysed. Documents were sought by Finland and by names of organisations and tobacco control activists. Documents were accessed and assessed between September 2000 and November 2002. Tactics of the tobacco industry activities were categorised as presented by Saloojee and Dagli.

Results: The international tobacco companies utilised similar strategies in Finland as in other industrial markets to fight tobacco control and legislation, the health advocacy movement, and litigation. These activities slowed down the development and implementation of the Tobacco Act in Finland. However, despite the extensive pressure, the industry was not able to prevent the most progressive tobacco legislation in Europe from being passed and coming into force in Finland in 1977 and in 1995.

Conclusion: Denying the health hazards caused by tobacco—despite indisputable scientific evidence—decreased the credibility of the tobacco industry. Strategy of denial was falsely chosen, as health advocacy groups were active both in society and the parliamentary system. The strong influence of the tobacco industry may have in fact increased the visibility of tobacco control in Finland as the litigation process was also drawing attention to negative health effects of tobacco. Therefore the tobacco industry did not manage to convince public opinion. However, the tobacco industry did obtain experience in Finland in how to object to tobacco control measures.

     

A method to guide community planning and evaluation efforts in tobacco control using data on smoking during pregnancy

Background: Effective community based tobacco control programmes are critical for state and nationwide impact. However, there is little discussion in the literature of methods for setting local objectives which use locally collected data and account for historical variation in progress.

Objectives: To develop and illustrate a method that uses locally available birth certificate data to model trends in tobacco use during pregnancy among women giving birth, predict future prevalence, and use predictions to set community specific tobacco control objectives.

Data source: Vital statistics. Wisconsin standard birth certificates, 1990–2000, which record the smoking status of the mother during pregnancy.

Data analysis: Trends in the prevalence of smoking during pregnancy in Wisconsin statewide and in all counties (n = 72) were modelled using linear regression of log prevalence on year. Model fit was assessed using R². Regression slopes, indicating estimated relative annual percentage change in prevalence, were used to predict prevalence in 2005, and objectives were calculated as a 20% reduction from the predicted prevalence in 2005.

Conclusions: Modelling trends in the prevalence of smoking using locally collected data enables communities to set reasonable future tobacco control objectives that account for historical trends in progress.

     

Tobacco industry efforts hindering enforcement of the ban on tobacco sales to minors: actions speak louder than words

OBJECTIVE: The tobacco manufacturers state that they want to see laws that prohibit the sale of tobacco to minors enacted and enforced. Our purpose was to compare these public statements with the US tobacco industry's legislative agenda at the federal and state levels. DESIGN: A review of the industry's comments to the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) regarding proposed federal regulations, and an analysis of pro-tobacco state legislation concerning tobacco sales to minors. RESULTS: The industry is strongly opposed to federal regulations requiring states to effectively enforce their laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco to minors. A food industry newsletter reports that the Tobacco Institute has circulated a model state bill concerning underage tobacco sales. Striking similarities between bills from several states would seem to confirm this report. These bills strip communities of enforcement authority while making effective enforcement by state officials virtually impossible. CONCLUSION: The evidence strongly suggests an industry strategy to undermine efforts to enforce laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco to minors. As has been the case in the past, the tobacco industry is publicly endorsing a socially responsible goal while apparently taking action behind the scenes to ensure that the goal is not achieved.


     

Understanding the vector in order to plan effective tobacco control policies: an analysis of contemporary tobacco industry materials

This paper builds on tobacco document research by analysing contemporary materials to explore how the global tobacco market has changed, how transnational tobacco companies (TTCs) are responding and the implications for tobacco control. The methods involved analysis of a variety of materials, including tobacco company annual reports, investor relations materials, financial analyst reports, market research reports and data. Once China, where TTCs have little market share, is excluded, global cigarette volumes are already declining. Nevertheless, industry profits continue to increase. This pattern is explained by the pricing power of TTCs-their ability to increase prices faster than volumes fall, a consequence of market failure. Pricing power is now fundamental to the long term future of TTCs. Consequently, and in light of growing regulations, the business model of the TTCs is changing. Product innovation is now a key marketing technique used to drive consumers to buy more expensive (ie, profitable) premium cigarettes. Contrary to established wisdom, high tobacco excise rates, particularly where increases in excise are gradual, can benefit TTCs by enabling price (profit) increases to be disguised. Large intermittent tax increases likely have a greater public health benefit. TTC investments in smokeless tobacco appear designed to eliminate competition between smokeless tobacco and cigarettes, thereby increasing the pricing power of TTCs while enabling them to harness the rhetoric of harm reduction. Monitoring TTCs can inform effective policy development. The value maximising approach of TTCs suggests that a ban on product innovation and more informed tobacco excise policies are needed.     

Death at a discount: how the tobacco industry thwarted tobacco control policies in US military commissaries

Background

The US military is perhaps the only retailer consistently losing money on tobacco. Military stores (commissaries and exchanges) have long sold discount‐priced cigarettes, while the Department of Defense (DoD) pays directly for tobacco‐related healthcare costs of many current and former customers. Tobacco use also impairs short‐term troop readiness.

Objective

To examine the long struggle to raise commissary tobacco prices and the tobacco industry''s role in this policy effort.

Methods

Analysis of internal tobacco industry documents, searches of government and military websites and newspaper databases, and interviews with key informants identified in the documents.

Results

Efforts to raise commissary tobacco prices began in the mid‐1980s. Opposition quickly emerged. Some military officials viewed tobacco use as a “right” and low prices as a “benefit”. Others raised issues of authority, and some saw the change as threatening the stores. The tobacco industry successfully exploited complex relationships among the Congress, the DoD, commissaries, exchanges and private industry, obstructing change for over a decade. Leadership from the Secretary and Assistant Secretaries of Defense, presidential support and procedural manoeuvring finally resulted in a modest price increase in 1996, but even then, high‐level military officials were apparently threatened with retaliation from pro‐tobacco Congressmen.

Conclusions

The longstanding military tradition of cheap cigarettes persists because of the politics of the military sales system, the perception within the military of tobacco use as a right, and tobacco industry pressures. Against its own best interests, the US military still makes tobacco available to service members at prices below those in the civilian sector.The US military includes 1.4 million active duty personnel, stationed worldwide. Their smoking prevalence is higher (33.8% in 2002) than the US Department of Defense (DoD) goal of ⩽20%,¹ exceeding the civilian rate of 23.6%.² Smoking diminishes even short‐term troop health and readiness^3,4 and increases medical and training costs.^5,6 As an authoritarian, hierarchical institution, DoD should, theoretically, be able to establish and implement strong tobacco control policies. Nonetheless, DoD sells its personnel tobacco products virtually tax free. Military health personnel and some members of Congress have long sought to address this contradiction. This case study shows how for more than a decade, the tobacco industry worked to defeat policy changes by framing cheap cigarettes as a “benefit”, mobilising Congressional and military‐affiliated allies, and exploiting DoD ambivalence about tobacco.     

Tobacco on campus: industry marketing and tobacco control policy among post-secondary institutions in Canada

Objective: Post-secondary institutions provide a unique opportunity to implement and evaluate leading edge tobacco policies, while influencing a key group of young adults. To date, however, we know little about the tobacco control environment at post-secondary institutions outside the USA.     

细菌及菌泥的控制高速纸机生产中

结合晨鸣集团的生产实际,阐述了高速提提要纸机生产中细菌及菌泥控制的方法和提提要措施。     

Minors' tobacco possession law violations and intentions to smoke: implications for tobacco control

Objectives: To test: (1) whether citation under the Minors in Possession (MIP) law, vicarious citation (knowing someone who was cited), and threat of driving licence suspension are associated with decreased intentions to smoke next year; and (2) whether the policy is differentially enforced.     

Tobacco industry research and efforts to manipulate smoke particle size: implications for product regulation.

Over the past half-century of cigarette design, tobacco manufacturers have prioritized efficiency of delivery alongside ease of inhalation and use. As a result, the modern cigarette is uniquely effective at facilitating the absorption of nicotine as well as carcinogens and other toxins. The present study draws on internal tobacco company documents to assess industry consideration of the role of smoke particle size as a potentially controllable influence over inhalation patterns and lung exposure. Tobacco manufacturers evaluated particle size manipulation both as a means of controlling physical and sensory product attributes and as a possible approach to reducing health hazards related to exposure. Industry scientists concluded that the smoke aerosol particle distribution of conventional cigarettes, constructed within common parameters, falls within a narrow and effective inhalation range. However, the internal findings suggest that differences in smoke particle size distribution are possible through less conventional approaches to product design. We propose that particle size be included among the many design features to be considered in emerging tobacco product regulation. However, the present review does not address whether particle size regulation would be a plausible means of substantially reducing addictiveness or harmfulness of cigarettes, and therefore we do not propose it as a high-priority target for regulation.     

Marketing to the marginalised: tobacco industry targeting of the homeless and mentally ill

Objectives: To describe the tobacco industry''s relationships with and influence on homeless and mentally ill smokers and organisations providing services to them. Methods: Analysis of internal tobacco industry documents and journal articles. Results: The tobacco industry has marketed cigarettes to the homeless and seriously mentally ill, part of its "downscale" market, and has developed relationships with homeless shelters and advocacy groups, gaining positive media coverage and political support. Discussion: Tobacco control advocates and public health organisations should consider how to target programmes to homeless and seriously mentally ill individuals. Education of service providers about tobacco industry efforts to cultivate this market may help in reducing smoking in these populations.     

German tobacco industry's successful efforts to maintain scientific and political respectability to prevent regulation of secondhand smoke

Objective

To examine the tactics the tobacco industry in Germany used to avoid regulation of secondhand smoke exposure and to maintain the acceptance of public smoking.

Methods

Systematic search of tobacco industry documents available on the internet between June 2003 and August 2004.

Results

In West Germany, policymakers were, as early as the mid 1970s, well aware of the fact that secondhand smoke endangers non‐smokers. One might have assumed that Germany, an international leader in environmental protection, would have led in protecting her citizens against secondhand smoke pollution. The tobacco manufacturers in Germany, however, represented by the national manufacturing organisation “Verband” (Verband der Cigarettenindustrie), contained and neutralised the early debate about the danger of secondhand smoke. This success was achieved by carefully planned collaboration with selected scientists, health professionals and policymakers, along with a sophisticated public relations programme.

Conclusions

The strategies of the tobacco industry have been largely successful in inhibiting the regulation of secondhand smoke in Germany. Policymakers, health professionals, the media and the general public should be aware of this industry involvement and should take appropriate steps to close the gap between what is known and what is done about the health effects of secondhand smoke.