Jump to full article: Huffington Post (blog), 2008-03-31
Author: Robert Weissman
Intro: The world is about to meet a Philip Morris International that will be even more predatory in pushing its toxic products worldwide.
The new Philip Morris International will be unconstrained by public opinion in the United States -- the home country and largest market of the old, unified Philip Morris -- and will no longer fear lawsuits in the United States.
As a result, Thomas Russo of the investment fund Gardner Russo & Gardner tells Bloomberg, the company "won't have to worry about getting pre-approval from the U.S. for things that are perfectly acceptable in foreign markets." . . .
Yet here comes Philip Morris International, now the world's largest nongovernmental tobacco company. It is permitted to break off from Altria with no regulatory restraint. It proceeds to announce plans to subvert the public health policies that offer the best hope for reducing the toll of tobacco-related death and disease. The markets applaud, governments are mute.
What an extraordinary commentary on the political and ideological potency of the multinational corporation -- and the idea that corporations should presumptively be free to do what they want, with only the most minimal of restraints.
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