Quotes from the Tobacco Industry
The Tobacco Industry
The following quotes were taken from internal documents of the tobacco industry. These documents were released to the public as part of settlement agreements in the USA.
These statements reflect the tobacco industry’s greed and blatant disregard for human welfare. Moreover, they reveal that the tobacco industry actively lied to the public.
Public Statement:
“We have not concealed, we do not conceal, and we will never conceal…[W]e have no internal research which proves that smoking…is addictive.” (Stevenson, BAT Denies Smoking Claims, The Independent, 31 October 1996.
Internal Document Statements:
“…[M]onkeys can be trained to inject themselves with nicotine for its own sake, just as they will inject other dependence-producing drugs, e.g., opiates, caffeine, amphetamine, cocaine… The absorption of nicotine through the lungs is as quick as the junkie’s ‘fix’.” Brown & Williamson, “Secondary Source Digest,” 1973, http://www.tobacco.neu.edu/mn_trial/Minnesota Trial Exhibit 13809
Public Statement:
“I do not think we can say that it [smoking] is safe or unsafe… [W]e do not know whether it is safe or unsafe.” (Gareth Davis, CEO of Imperial, undated)
Internal Document Statement:
“Because known carcinogens are produced from such a wide variety of organic materials during the process of pyrolysis [chemical reaction brought about by the action of heat], it is most unlikely that a completely safe form of tobacco smoking can be evolved.”6
(British American Tobacco, undated)
The tobacco industry publicly maintains that advertising does not affect overall cigarette consumption, and that it is only intended to persuade smokers to switch brands.
Internal Document Statements:
“We’re in the cigarette business. We’re not in the sports business. We use sports as an avenue for advertising our products… We can go into an arena where we’re marketing an event, measure sales during the event and measure sales after the event, and see an increase in sales.”7
(R.J Reynolds, 1989)
“…[We] are naturally more interested to learn how you plan to target the emerging young adult female smokers rather than the older female smokers.”8
(Philip Morris, 1989)
The first cigarette is a noxious experience to the noviate. To account for the fact that the beginner smoker will tolerate the unpleasantness we must invoke a psychological motive. Smoking a cigarette for the beginner is a symbolic act. I am no longer my mother’s child, I’m tough, I am an adventurer, I’m not square. Whatever the individual intent, the act of smoking remains a symbolic declaration of personal identity… As the force from the psychological symbolism subsides, the pharmacological effect takes over to sustain the habit.”9
(Philip Morris, 1969)
It is clear from the statements above that the Tobacco Industry has successfully lied to the consumers