MEANWHILE, TOBACCO MARKETING HARDLY MISSED A STEP

“This is just a small way for us to say thank you to everybody for the service they've provided to New York.”

Cigar Aficionado editor and publisher Marvin R Shanken, on the magazine's cigar event for the Fire Department of New York and the New York Police Department. Source: Cunningham J. Cigar mag gives heroes a hot time, “New York Post”, 21 November 2001.

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“I wanted to distribute this brand because this is a good way to do my little part. It's actually very good tobacco. It's American tobacco.”

Richard Alley, owner of Memphis Tobacco Bowl, about the shop's new blend named “Tribute”. Source: Business Briefcase: “Tribute” tobacco blend made to benefit victims of Sept. 11. “Memphis (TN) Business Journal”, 12 October 2001.

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“Consumers will increase smoking in times like these . . .The more you watch CNN on the television right now, the more you're going to smoke.”

Martin Tilley, who helps manage 25 million euros of Austrian stocks at Bank Gutmann in Vienna, said he may buy Gallaher tobacco shares. Source: Harper C and Carpenter C. Gallaher sells debt as investors favor tobacco bonds (update3), “Bloomberg News” 21 September 2001.

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“Here's a story that has a lot of people in government upset. It seems the major tobacco companies have been smuggling billions and billions of cigarettes into Iraq. Where is their patriotism? They're supposed to be killing Americans with those cigarettes!”

Comedian Jay Leno, in his opening monologue. Source: The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, “NBC” 4 March 2002.

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NICELY PUT

“You can either see the last 40 years as a catastrophe with five million dead from smoking or a public health triumph with almost two million saved due to the reduction in smoking since 1962. Either way, we still need to see tobacco as a potent malign force in society filling the cardiac and cancer wards, draining away peoples' lives and soaking up National Health Service resources.”

Clive Bates, Director of ASH London. Source: 40th Anniversary of 1962 Smoking and Health Report: Forty fatal years five million dead, “ASH London” 7 March 2002.* * *

“Are cigarettes just another legal product? No, compared to the legal treatment given other products, cigarettes are supra-legal—they are a product that is above the law.”

Elizabeth Whelan, president of the American Council on Science and Health. Source: Whelan: Smoked out: safer cigarettes?, “Health facts and fears” 7 February 2002.* * *

“[C]ustomers smoking these new products are essentially human guinea pigs in a deadly science experiment.”

Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, on “reduced risk” cigarettes. Source: Schreiner B. B&W test markets new cigarette, “AP” 5 November 2001.

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“The typical poor smoker could easily add over 500 calories to the diet of one or two children with his or her daily tobacco expenditure. An estimated 10.5 million people currently malnourished could have an adequate diet if money on tobacco were spent on food instead. The lives of 350 children could be saved each day.”

Source: Hungry for tobacco: an analysis of the economic impact of tobacco consumption on the poor in Bangladesh, “Tobacco Control” 6 September 2001.* * *

“The tobacco companies really care about advertising. So let's accept their judgement that it's important—and ban it. Half of British smokers believe that since the government allows advertising, smoking can't be all that dangerous. That, if you think about it, is a reasonable inference.”

Oxford statistician and noted tobacco researcher Sir Richard Peto. Source: Pearce F. No smoke without fire, “New Scientist” 30 August 2001.

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ON REGULATION

“It is a fundamental tenet of good regulation that the regulated are involved.”

British American Tobacco (BAT) CEO Martin Broughton. Source: Doran J. Libertine takes anti-smoking lobby to task. Times (London) 1 March 2002.

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“Right now, we don't have regulation, so we have to work within the bounds of what we think is responsible.”

Sharon Boyse, director of applied research for Brown & Williamson, on the development of “less toxic” cigarettes. Source: Fairclough G. A Potentially less toxic cigarette to get a national push by Vector, “The Wall Street Journal” 5 November 2001.

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“We shouldn't allow a company that creates a product that kills over 430,000 every year in the United States to create public policy.”

Cathy Callaway, director of the Ames, Iowa Division of Tobacco Prevention, Use and Control. Source: Grebe D. Philip Morris involvement unites anti-smoking forces, “Ames (IA) Tribune” 10 October 2001.

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ON CANDY

“I like the new Camel dark mint. It's like smoking a dessert.”

Twenty year old Dominic N Young, on RJR's new Turkish Jade menthols which are marketed in dark mint and mandarin mint flavours. Source: Fitzpatrick E. “Candy-coated” Indian cigarettes are a hot teen trend, “Providence Journal-Bulletin” 4 September 2001.

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“A taste of banana mixed with cheese and sugar sauce together with chocolate, all toasted together. That's the flavor that came to me—Bam!—sweet, nutty, caramelic, fruity, everything!”

Djoko Herryanto, a chemist whose mission it is to find the most delicious mixture of spices to enhance the taste of Indonesia's sweet-smelling clove cigarettes. Source: Mydans S. Kudus Journal: A good cigarette is a fantasy of flavor, “New York Times” 3 September 2001.

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“I can't tell you how many of those candy cigarettes I have eaten . . .That is the main candy (our characters) ate. I remember our prop guy would always give us more to take home.”

Thirteen year old actress Mae Whitman, star of Rupert Murdoch's Fox Family Channel series, “State of Grace”. Source: King S. One for the girls, “New York Post” 23 June 2001.

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ON HEALTH ISSUES

“I think some of the medical campaigners gild the lily. The figures they cite are based on a curious definition of causation.”

Kenneth Clarke, former Tory Chancellor and health secretary—and current member of BAT's corporate social responsibility committee. Source: Brandreth G, Ken, the cavalier, “Electronic Telegraph” 1 July 2001.

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“I don't do interviews with the general press about ETS (environmental tobacco smoke or second-hand smoke). I find the people generally don't have the qualifications to understand the issue and generally have their mind made up about it.”

John Luik, author of the industry-vetted “Pandora's box,” and arguably the first to label the 1993 US EPA report “junk science”. Source: Marsden W. Big tobacco's shell game with the truth Montreal Gazette, “Montreal Gazette” 21 June 2001.

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ON GENETIC RESEARCH

“Japan Tobacco has made a multi-million dollar deal with pharmaceutical company Corixa to develop a lung cancer vaccine. Corixa's vaccines rely on gene sequences—taken from lung cancer patients—which the company wants to patent. This is vertical integration at its finest. Funeral parlour chains should expect takeover bids any day now.”

Simon Chapman, on Japan Tobacco's acquisition of rights to lung cancer vaccines and treatments. Source: Chapman S. “Australian Broadcasting Corporation” 3 December 2001.

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“We've got a vaccine for lung cancer. It's called tobacco control.”

Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Source: Fairclough G. Antismoking programs lack funds set in tobacco settlement guidelines, “The Wall Street Journal” 16 January 2001.