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Harawira, who said last September, that he'd "like to lynch these bastards ... who kill New Zealanders", didn't go as far as slinging a rope over the rafters of the committee room, but he did apply the metaphorical blowtorch to the general manager of British American Tobacco New Zealand, Graeme Amey. He read out a comment, plausibly attributed to a tobacco executive, that tobacco companies targeted "the young, the poor, the black and the stupid" and asked: "Is that a philosophy your company follows?"
Amey's disavowal sounded as lame as his recitation in answer to further questions that BAT (which in 2008 contributed $1.7 billion to its parent company's global revenue of $70 billion) sells a legal product and operates within the law.
This kind of ritualised utterance has moved beyond the implausible to become nauseating. Representatives of companies that get rich selling a product which, used as directed, causes direct and irreparable physical harm, should at least have the decency to admit as much.
Harawira, who represents a population disproportionately blighted by tobacco, is engaged in a righteous campaign to rid the world of a pestilential weed. The evasive Amey and his ilk should watch out.
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In an unusual move, British American Tobacco Japan Ltd. said Monday it has withdrawn its application filed with the Finance Ministry last month to raise the prices of its cigarette brands.
The third-largest seller of tobacco in Japan withdrew the application following recent calls by the government for smoking bans in public places which, if implemented, could cause demand for tobacco to plunge. . . .
In announcing the withdrawal of its application, the company said it needed to watch trends in the tobacco market for the time being.
Earlier this month, the Finance Ministry approved an application filed by Philip Morris (NYSE:MO) Japan KK, the second-largest seller of tobacco in Japan, to raise prices of its cigarette brands
A TOBACCO giant is pumping £23million into a British research centre to come up with the world's first "safe" cigarette.
Scientists at British American Tobacco say they want to cut out some of the 4,000 potentially harmful chemicals found in cigarettes.
And they say the new product could dramatically reduce rates of cancer among smokers.
But the scheme has been slammed by anti-smoking campaigners who claim such cigarettes would still cause health problems.
BAT is tranforming its base in Southampton into a global centre for research and development. It will house 1,100 staff.
BRITISH American Tobacco (BAT) Zambia Plc says illegal trade in cigarettes is still a challenge for the industry.
And BAT recorded an increased turnover of K235.9 billion last year from K203 billion in 2008.
BAT finance director Benedict Mwila said this in summary results for the year ended December 31, 2009.
Mr Mwila says illicit trade, mainly from neighbouring countries, still remains a problem for the cigarette industry.
He, however, says positive strides have been made by stakeholders to address the concern.
British American Tobacco Plc’s Ugandan unit said full-year profit more than doubled after export volumes and the quality of the green leaf improved.
Net income for the year through December rose to 8.01 billion Ugandan shillings ($3.86 million) from 3.24 billion shillings a year earlier, the Kampala-based company said in an advertisement published in New Vision newspaper today.
Exports were higher last year, while improvement in leaf quality enhanced British American Tobacco Uganda Ltd.’s competitiveness in the global market for its exports, it said, without giving details.
An Auckland academic says smoking rates in New Zealand would plummet if tobacco products could not be displayed at shops.
Dr Marewa Glover, of the University of Auckland, told a select committee yesterday that progress in tobacco control was poor and it was having a particularly bad effect among Maori.
She said outside the hearing that she disagreed with tobacco industry giant British American Tobacco New Zealand that banning smoking or restricting its sale would merely produce an uncontrolled black market.
"There just will not be the death and illness to such an extent from so few people smoking, and the fastest way to do that is to get rid of the product off the shelves," Dr Glover said.
Maori child lobby organisation Te Kahui Mana Ririki (TKMR) supports the Maori Affairs select committee enquiry into the impact of tobacco on Maori.
"For the sake of our children we support the prohibition of tobacco," TKMR Chair Dr Hone Kaa said today.
"44% of Maori smoke and this means almost half our children are being raised in smoking households. We know that second hand smoke results in poor health outcomes for our young ones.
Amid a barrage of Maori people calling for tough controls and the eventual banning of smoking, a tobacco company today asked for current sale display rules to remain the same.
As several people told emotional stories of losing loved ones to smoking-related illnesses, British American Tobacco New Zealand (BAT) told a Maori Affairs select committee inquiry into the tobacco industry in Auckland that visible tobacco stands were important to its business of selling a legal product.
The inquiry was called in particular to look at the consequences of tobacco use for Maori.
A tobacco giant has been told there should be a statue to commemorate dead Maori smokers killed by "the enemy that lies within our midst".
Maori Party MP Hone Harawira told British American Tobacco's managing director Graeme Amey at a select committee hearing on the tobacco industry yesterday that as many Maori died each year because of tobacco as died in World War II.
He said a submission to the committee on Wednesday spoke of the 600 Maori Battalion soldiers who died in World War II. "We recognise that contribution every year.
"Six hundred Maori die every single year from tobacco yet there is no recognition of that anywhere."
He said a friend had suggested a giant statue was needed to commemorate the "unknown smoker" as "a way of recognising that the losses in the battalion are replicated every single year by an enemy that lies within our midst and continues to kill our people".
Mr Amey repeatedly rejected Mr Harawira's questions saying: "We sell a product that is legal."
The parliamentary committee probing the tobacco industry got personal in Auckland yesterday with the family of a Maori smoking victim describing the impact of his addiction and death.
The Te Kiri whanau of Hamilton wept as they told MPs of the pain tobacco smoking inflicted on their father before killing him in mid-life.
They are among many families and organisations to tell the tobacco inquiry of how the smoking rate of more than 40 per cent among Maori and the associated premature deaths have deprived them of their elders. . . .
Maori Party MP Hone Harawira also took the New Zealand head of British American Tobacco to task during yesterday's session about how much the firm spends on marketing.
"Off-hand I don't have the details," said Graeme Amey, general manager of BAT New Zealand. He agreed to provide details later. . . .
Initially he said the company did not have a marketing strategy and did not market tobacco to young Maori - but it later became clear that he was referring to the company's compliance with the law that had banned tobacco advertising and sponsorship.
Mr Harawira said it was important for the committee to see the marketing material - which would remain confidential - including historic documents dating back decades, to verify Mr Amey's assertion that the company had not devised marketing strategies to target young Maori.
Later, the group Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) rejected the assertion BAT did not promote or market tobacco to youth. "Claims that smoking is an adult choice are false. The vast majority of smokers start before 18 with an average of 14.6 years of age," said Ash director Ben Youdan.
The country's biggest cigarette company looks set for a fiery reception when it fronts MPs looking at the impact of tobacco on Maori.
Parliament's Maori Affairs Select Committee is in Auckland, hearing submissions on its inquiry into the tobacco industry.
British American Tobacco sells 3/4 of all tobacco and cigarettes in New Zealand.
The company will tell MPs to clamp down on illegal sales, sales to under-18s, and set a minimum price for cigarettes.
Maori Party MP Hone Harawira will be there and says British American is just offering a few token concessions.
The country's biggest tobacco company will tell a parliamentary committee it will fight for the right to display cigarettes in shops.
But Maori MP Hone Harawira will be asking "as many questions as possible" when British-American Tobacco appears today before an inquiry into the tobacco industry and its effects on Maori health - and says the company is simply seeking "ways and means to allow them to continue to sell their poison".
British-American Tobacco, or BAT, is the first, and biggest, of three tobacco companies that have made submissions to the Maori Affairs select committee.
BRITISH American Tobacco is investing £23m into its Southampton base in a bid to develop a “safe” cigarette.
On national No Smoking Day, the Daily Echo can reveal that the company now employs more people in the city than when it made billions of cigarettes a year.
It means Southampton is now home to one of the world’s leading smoking research centres, which is currently examining 40 different varieties of safer cigarettes.
Government is all set to ban foreign direct investment (FDI) in cigarette manufacturing. A cabinet note towards this end has been prepared by the commerce and industry ministry and circulated among the other ministries of the cabinet committee on economic affairs (CCEA).
A ban on FDI in manufacturing of cigarettes will affect existing foreign players' future investment plans in the country. However, it will not affect their existing investments in Indian ventures. At present, three major global players — British American Tobacco (BAT), Japan Tobacco and the Altria Group — have large investments in India. The cabinet note also proposed to prohibit franchise operations for foreign companies to manufacture cigarettes for domestic consumption. It has proposed to allow FDI in SEZs for exports. . . .
If the cabinet approves the proposal, it will affect the plan of Japan Tobacco, which owns brand like Camel, to increase its stake in Indian venture from 50% to 75%, with an investment of $100 million. At present, the rest 50% in the company is owned by KK Modi group.
Similarly, BAT wants to increase its stake in ITC
The sale of 160 paintings and sculptures from the British American Tobacco modern art collection raised over €13m at Sotheby's auction in Amsterdam on Monday, almost triple the sale estimates. . . .
The collection was created in the 1960s when the director of the Turmac tobacco company Alexander Orlow commissioned art to decorate the walls of the company's cigarette rolling factory in Zevenaar.
He wanted to improve the working environment of his dedicated employees and did this by building a world-class collection of large, colourful contemporary works specifically chosen to be shown in the factories above the machinery and so provide inspiration and stimulation.
According to some reports he came to believe the art actually enhanced the productivity of the workers.
In 2000, Turmac was bought by British American Tobacco Company (BAT)