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• PAHO: Tobacco Firms Lied to Latin Americans 

Several transnational tobacco companies hired scientists throughout Latin America and the Caribbean to deceive the public about the link between secondhand smoke and lung cancer and other serious diseases, according to a report released this week by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), a regional office of the World Health Organization.

But the companies neglected to inform the public about their connection with the scientists. They instead used consultants who agreed to portray themselves as independent, objective researchers while parroting the views of the tobacco industry in their liaisons with the media and various government officials, the report indicates.

In fact, tobacco executives circulated a memo that stated: "I cannot stress strongly enough the absolute necessity for the industry to have no direct contact with these scientists that are part of the program...All contact, as previously explained, must be carried out through (a Washington, DC-based law firm)."

This is just one of the components of the tobacco industry's deceptive campaigns that were carried out in Latin America and the Caribbean over the last decade, according to PAHO's "Profits Over People" report.

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It is not constructive to dwell on events that (occurred) several years ago. It is more productive to focus on what we can and should be doing to address society's legitimate concerns about tobacco. Our approach today is to support sensible government regulations.
Jayme Fowler, Philip Morris' communications director for Latin America, in response to the PAHO report "Profits over People.

We are and always have been in favor of sensible tobacco regulation . . . [T]here is no convincing evidence that the substance of any work or the opinion of any doctor or scientist has been altered or affected by tobacco industry influence
Unidentified BAT spokesperson, in response to the PAHO report "Profits over People.