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But Sun Life says medical journal has wildly overstated value of its cigarette stocks
Jump to full article: Toronto (Ont) Star (ca), 2009-06-04
Author: Joseph Hall Health Reporter
Intro: Canadian and U.S. health insurance companies – including Toronto's Sun Life Financial Inc. – have more than $3 billion (U.S.) invested in the tobacco industry, a letter published today in the New England Journal of Medicine charges.
By refusing to quit their addiction to cigarette profits, the insurers lose any moral right to help set health policy, the letter's Harvard University authors argue.
"Disgusting, depressing, I've heard a lot of words to describe the fact the insurance industry is invested in tobacco," says Dr. Wesley Boyd, the letter's lead author.
"By exposing their investments in tobacco, it pulls the rug out from under them in terms of saying they should be credible players (in health policy discussions)."
Boyd's research shows Sun Life, which markets life, health and disability insurance in Canada and the U.S., has more than $1 billion invested in tobacco firms, with nearly $890 million in Philip Morris USA, the maker of Marlboro cigarettes.
In an email response to the Star, a senior Sun Life official called the information cited in the journal "categorically incorrect" and said the company's "exposure to `tobacco' stocks" was less than 0.005 per cent of an investment portfolio worth "well over" $100 billion. "Notwithstanding the size, diversification and time horizon of our portfolio, Sun Life does not carry significant holdings in tobacco stocks," wrote Michel Leduc, vice-president of public and corporate affairs.
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