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Twelve (12) new publications have been added to the Tobacco Documents Bibliography. Subjects include the marketing of Virginia Slims cigarettes overseas, the food industry's ties to Big Tobacco, US Military tobacco control policy, and smoking and mental illness.
Article HighlightPetticrew M, Lee K, Ali H, Nakkash R. 'Fighting a Hurricane': Tobacco Industry Efforts to Counter the Perceived Threat of Islam. American Journal of Public Health 2015 04/16; 2015/04:e1-e7.
The documents reviewed by the authors suggest that the tobacco industry perceived Islamic opposition to smoking as a threat to its business from the 1970s onward. Among the tactics used to counter this perceived threat was the framing of Islamic objections to tobacco use as extremism and of tobacco control advocates more generally as extremists. The industry monitored debates on Islam and tobacco and recruited Islamic scholars and leaders as consultants to help try to portray smoking as acceptable. Tobacco companies also sought to market tobacco use as an expression of freedom, especially among women.
Key Documents from LTDL:1979 speech by Horace Kornegay, president of the Tobacco Institute to the American Jewish Committee states: "In 1906, an Iranian Ayatollah decreed that smoking was against Islamic purity. Overnight, cigarettes disappeared from the entire country. In 1977, Ayatollah Califano declared a holy war against tobacco: He is gone, but his mullahs remain and so does much of his battle plan of segregation and prohibition. (PM, 1979)
http://industrydocuments.library.ucsf.edu/tobacco/docs/rzdm0116
"[t]he possibility that religious fundamentalism will have an impact on our profitable Gulf markets. Fundamentalism could have a wider significance than just the Gulf since anti-smoking zeal is not just limited to Islam. . . Mormons, Catholics, Jews and other sects have expressed strong anti-smoking feelings in the U.S. and a Corporate response to religion and smoking may be worth pursuing" (PM 1985)
http://industrydocuments.library.ucsf.edu/tobacco/docs/kxwg0131
"work to develop a system . . . [to] measure trends on the issue of Smoking and Islam. Identify Islamic religious leaders who oppose interpretations of the Qur’an which would ban the use of tobacco and encourage support for these leaders" (B&W, 1983)
http://industrydocuments.library.ucsf.edu/tobacco/docs/hghm0078
BAT consultant Bedros Kazandjian states, "I have, on several occasions, stopped official Government booklets being published as a means of informing the people about the relationship between smoking and certain verses of the Koran. . . [O]nce the religious aspect is conveyed to the public at large it will be very difficult to reverse the situation with any means." (BAT, 1987)
http://industrydocuments.library.ucsf.edu/tobacco/docs/fnpk0214
A presentation from 2000 prepared by the industry law firm Shook, Hardy, and Bacon gave an overview of the background to Islam and smoking with slides stating there is no prohibition on smoking in the Qur-an and that “making rules beyond what Allah has allowed is a sin in itself.” (BAT, 2000)
http://industrydocuments.library.ucsf.edu/tobacco/docs/qhkl0197
In addition, we have been busy adding more content to the site including a 'Popular Documents' section that highlights sets of documents in certain subject areas such as targeted marketing and smoking in movies. Users can now view the slideshow right from the page or download it as a PowerPoint presentation for future use/reference.
Our Popular Video and Popular Audio pages showcase selected multimedia from our collections and our Popular Presentations area is home to some wonderful webinars and podcasts created by researchers using the tobacco documents.
The Center for Public Integrity dug into the tobacco documents for their investigative report on food scientists and their ties to the tobacco industry, posted April 15, 2015.
Food companies repeatedly utilize a handful of scientists to determine whether new food additives can be deemed “generally recognized as safe,” (GRAS). No surprise, several of these scientists did similar work for the tobacco companies.
The scientists who review a new food additive to determine if it’s “generally recognized as safe” have the final word on that ingredient and its use. Once the panel of experts deems a new additive GRAS, it can go into foods that end up on supermarket shelves, with no notice to or review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This effectively circumvents a rigorous government safety review.
A look at a few key documents from the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library:http://industrydocuments.library.ucsf.edu/tobacco/docs/kqgl0088 - Borzelleca “has been secured by the tobacco industry to represent our position” during discussions with the Department of Health and Human Services regarding cigarette additives.
http://industrydocuments.library.ucsf.edu/tobacco/docs/mynv0003 - "If scientific issues are raised that Covington & Burling is not in a position to address, we might also call on our scientific consultants, who could respond to specific questions or make themselves available for interviews if appropriate. We currently expect that Dr. Borzelleca will be our main spokesman."
http://industrydocuments.library.ucsf.edu/tobacco/docs/xhdp0076 - Borzelleca served on the Philip Morris Scientific Advisory Board where his colleagues included Michael Pariza, Steve Taylor and William Waddell. According to CPI, these scientists are among the top 15 most contracted experts for safety assessments of ingredients added to food.
http://industrydocuments.library.ucsf.edu/tobacco/docs/gxwd0079 - GRAS panelist A. Wallace Hayes also served as an executive for RJR Nabisco, where he worked on both tobacco and food safety issues. A 1990 RJR performance record notes one of his objectives was to “increase our knowledge base regarding the role of nicotine/cotinine in smoking enjoyment/satisfaction.”
