THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
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Big Tobacco comes clean in America – but maintains smokescreen in Asia

Big Tobacco comes clean in America – but maintains smokescreen in Asia

Corrective statements from Philip Morris USA and other tobacco companies will start appearing in the US media tomorrow.

These ads will run in more than 50 newspapers for six months and on three major TV networks for one year. Tobacco companies are being compelled to tell the truth about their deadly products after a US court found them guilty in 2006 of violating racketeering laws and engaging in a decades-long conspiracy to deceive the public about the dangers of smoking and how they marketed to children. 
Yet the corrective ads will not be aired outside the US. 
“It is business as usual for the rest of the world as tobacco companies continue their misleading advertisements and their opposition to and even court cases against governments that implement effective tobacco control measures,” said Bungon Ritthiphakdee, SEATCA executive director.
In Southeast Asia, 500,000 people succumb to preventable tobacco-related diseases annually. Nearly 80 per cent of the world’s more than 1 billion smokers live in low- and middle-income countries. Philip Morris, through its international company PMI, has sold and continues to sell the same addictive cigarettes, including the misleading lights, low tar and ultra light variants, to the rest of the world. In other words no admission of consumer fraud, no corrective statements, and no compensation for lives lost.
PMI has targeted Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam to increase cigarette sales, and is investing US$1.9 billion to beef up its business in Indonesia.
In Indonesia, PMI sells its U Mild brand at a cheap price to appeal to young smokers with low incomes. PMI also uses its Indonesian front group, Gaprindo, to fight tobacco control measures such as a tobacco advertising ban and substantial tax increases.
In Malaysia, PMI has funded a local think-tank, Ideas, which opposes tobacco control measures, especially plain packaging and tax increase.
In 1954, the chairman of Philip Morris said, “If we had any thought or knowledge that in any way we are selling a product harmful to consumers, we would stop business tomorrow.” After 63 years, “tomorrow” has still not come for Philip Morris.
Philip Morris’ concept of ‘tomorrow’ has no corrective statements for the addicted poor smokers in developing countries, no responsibility for those killed by its products, and no compensation for the families who lost their loved ones. Philip Morris continues to remain in the tobacco business and still derive its profits from addictive and harmful tobacco. 
Wendell C Balderas
Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance 
(SEATCA-Bangkok)

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