Daily Doc: TI, May 9, 1989: TI on Fire Service: 'Support for Hostiles = Innoculation'
Daily Doc: TI on Fire Service: "Support for Hostiles = Innoculation"
Title: Accidental Fire Issue
TI, May 9, 1989
Bates #: TITX0034452/4454
October 11, 2000
The tobacco industry's strategy to deflect attention away from its responsibility to create a self-extinguishing cigarette was to create the appearance of concern about fire safety and to "[answer]...questions about the industry's motives and willingness to contribute to solutions." This strategy formed the overt basis for the Tobacco Institute's program of support for local fire service agencies nationwide.
However, the Institute's covert strategies were far less "socially conscious" than the industry would have wanted the public to know. Today's document is a report on the Institute's activities dealing with the "Accidental Fire Issue." It contains some telling information and telltale handwritten notations by Martin J. Gleason of the Tobacco Institute. For example, the document mentions Andrew McGuire, who was the director of the nonprofit Burn Council, which was a counseling and education organization based at San Francisco General Hospital. Mcguire was an outspoken advocate of the need for a self-extinguishing cigarette. (An article in the August 31, 1982 San Francisco Chronicle says that McGuire "almost single-handedly renewed national interest in laws that would exact strict fire safety requirements on cigarets." http://www.tobaccoinstitute.com/getallimg.asp?DOCID=TIMN0060371/0372). McGuire's strong public health/consumer advocacy made him an enemy of the tobacco industry. Fittingly, Gleason's handwritten comment by McGuire's name says simply, "Discredit" -- underlined twice. Another typewritten comment says,
"...Raise questions about Andy McGuire..."But perhaps Gleason's most telling handwritten comment on this document about TI fire service programs says,
"Cont[inue] support for hostiles -- innoculation"indicating that the tremendous financial support the tobacco industry gave to the the fire service carried with it the expectation that it would neutralize their opposition.
CITATION
Title: Accidental Fire Issue
Type of Document: Report
Author: N/A
Recipient: N/A
Date: 19890509
Site: Tobacco Institute document site http://www.tobaccoinstitute.com/
Page Count 3
Bates No. TITX0034452/4454
URL: http://my.tobaccodocuments.org/tdo/view.cfm?ShowImages=yes&CitID=117544
Litigation Usage: Texas
QUOTES
Strategies
We have followed these strategies consistently for nearly six years:
1. Demonstrate a sincere concern with the fire problem and a willingness to address that portion of the problem related to careless smoking.
2. Help fire officials prevent all kinds of fires, primarily through public education.
3. Recognize the decentralized character of the fire service by working primarily with state and local fire officials...
...[I]n support of these strategies...several activities are necessary:
1. Maintain all existing support of the Boucher bill... 2. Prepare for federal hearings with an emphasis on encouraging knowledgeable state and national fire officials to appear at their own expense. 3. [handwritten] - Continue support for Hostiles - Innoculation.
...Raise questions about Andy McGuire and the two fire officials who served on the study committee: why they changed their mind, why they are calling other fire groups "stupid."
Note: underlining appears in original
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