Daily Doc: CTR & "Public Relations" Pseudo-science
Title: No title
PM, Jun 24, 1974
Bates #: 2501235050/5054
October 23, 2000
This confidential Lorillard memorandum was faxed to Philip Morris by the law firm Shook, Hardy and Bacon. It was found in a file called "Cipollone Problem Documents," referring to an early liability lawsuit against the industry. It reveals that the "smoking and health research" programs that were carried on for so many years by the tobacco industry's jointly-funded Council on Tobacco Research (CTR)
"...have not been selected against specific scientific goals, but rather for various purposes such as public relations, political relations, position for litigation, etc."Carrying on "smoking and health" research projects that secretly were designed to benefit the industry's public and political relations gave the industry cover to claim to the unwitting public for many years that they were spending millions on research into smoking and health and "haven't discovered anything conclusive." It gave the appearnce that they were "doing something" about the smoking and health problem, and had the added bonus of creating "studies" that benefited political perceptions of their product.
To grasp the scope of the crime against of humanity that this act embodies, try imagining for a moment that another industry had done something similar. Imagine, for example, that the pharmaceutical industry had assured a worried public that they would investigate the dangers of the drug Thalidomide (which caused deformed babies) and then performed research that covered up the dangers of the drug. Imagine that internally, in confidential memos, they admitted that this research was "...for various purposes such as public relations, political relations, position for litigation, etc." and that in the meantime they kept manufacturing and selling Thalidomide to the public all the while while assuring worried pregnant mothers by saying "See? We've spent millions of dollars researching Thalidomide and haven't found anything conclusive."
What punishment might be appropriate for an industry that has treated humankind this way? Is there any government on earth powerful enough to carry out out such punishment?
CITATION
Title: No title
Type of Document: Memorandum, report
Author: A.W. Spears
Recipient: Curtis Judge
Date: 19740624
Site: Philip Morris document site http://www.pmdocs.com
Page Count 5
Bates No. 2501235050/5054
URL: http://www.pmdocs.com/getallimg.asp?DOCID=2501235050/5054
Litigation Usage: Stamped "Plaintiff's Exhibit," and presumably used in Minnesota
Found Using Search Criteria: "working group" on the Philip Morris site.
QUOTES
(from page 5 of the document):
Historically, the joint industry funded smoking and health research programs have not been selected against specific scientific goals, but rather for various purposes such as public relations, political relations, position for litigation, etc. Thus, it seems obvious that reviews of such programs for scientific relevance and merit in the smoking and health field are not likely to produce high ratings. In general, these programs have provided some buffer to public and political attack of the industry, as well as background for litigious strategy. However, the public and political attitude toward smoking has seriously decayed with respect to the tobacco industry, and scientific and political attack has become intense, with efforts at forced product modification underway. Thus, we see the litigation threat of much lesser importance than that of legislative and public acceptance of cigarette smoking....
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