BAT, Philip Morris accused of trying to thwart anti-smoking efforts

Two recent studies have revealed that two of the world's biggest tobacco companies have tried to undermine anti-smoking efforts in Asia by seeking to influence health policy in China and scientific research in Thailand, baring the unsavoury influence of big money on public life.

British American Tobacco Plc (BAT), Europe's largest cigarette maker, helped form the Beijing Liver Foundation ''to reprioritise the agenda of the ministry of public health,'' one study said, citing company documents.

A senior scientist at Philip Morris International Inc, the world's biggest cigarette maker and owner of brands like Marlboro and Benson & Hedges, gained a ''disturbing'' and ''inappropriate'' influence over teaching at a Bangkok research institute, the second study said.

In the first study, Monique Muggli and colleagues from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, studied reports from London-based BAT, the maker of Dunhill and Lucky Strike brands of cigarettes. The company helped form the Beijing Liver Foundation to ''reprioritise the agenda of the ministry of public health,'' and ''to divert public attention from smoking and health issues to liver diseases'' in China, the study says, citing internal reports obtained from BAT.

''To focus on liver diseases will take the heat away from anti-smoking and smoking-related issues,'' according to a BAT document entitled ''Beijing Liver Foundation Report 1999.'' The study claims that BAT sought to present the message that smoke is an insignificant source of air pollution compared with other pollutants.

The study recommends that policymakers in China should be aware of how BAT and other tobacco companies have repeatedly sought to influence health policy in China by focusing attention on the adoption of ineffective air filtration and ventilation systems in hospitality venues rather than the implementation of 100 per cent smoke-free environments.

The Thai institution under the scanner in the second study, the Chulabhorn Research Institute (CRI), is an internationally renowned teaching institution for a variety of scientific disciplines, including environmental toxicology (the study of how chemicals in the environment, such as tobacco smoke, can affect human health). The institute is designated a WHO Collaborating Centre, carrying out activities in support of the WHO's public health programmes.

Ross MacKenzie (School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Australia) and Jeff Collin (Centre for International Public Health Policy, University of Edinburgh, Scotland) analysed tobacco company documents that were made publicly available online following litigation in the United States. Philip Morris documents revealed that ostensibly independent overseas scientists, now identified as industry consultants, were able to gain access to the Thai scientific community. Most significantly, a Philip Morris scientist called Roger Walk established close connections with the CRI.

Documents indicate that Walk was able to use such links to influence the study and teaching of environmental toxicology in the institute and to develop relations with key officials and local scientists so as to advance the interests of Philip Morris within Thailand and across Asia. The WHO has stated that a "firewall" is in place between itself and the tobacco industry. But the authors of the study argue that said "firewall" was not impenetrable.

Smoking could kill one billion people this century, 10 times more than in the past 100 years, and is ''the single most preventable cause of death,'' according to the World Health Organisation. The two reports, funded by the US National Cancer Institute, show how cigarette makers seek to counter anti-smoking measures by forging ties with policymakers and scientists. The studies examined the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library, a collection of almost 10 million documents produced by tobacco companies in response to litigation in the 1990s.

The two tobacco majors denied accusations of wrongdoing and illegal influence. ''Focusing on decades old documents does nothing to progress the objective of achieving effective and comprehensive regulation of tobacco today. The use of these documents is disingenuous as they do not reflect Philip Morris International's views today,'' said Marija Sepic, a spokeswoman for Philip Morris.

''British American Tobacco welcomes sensible regulation and we always seek, wherever possible, to engage with regulators to work towards balanced legal frameworks,'' said Catherine Armstrong, a London-based BAT spokeswoman. ''Far from undermining laws, we believe our input can mean the laws are workable and realistic and can be implemented effectively,'' she added.