Abstract
Objective: To contrast the Australian tobacco industry's awareness of the diseases caused by smoking with their aggressive public denial on the relation between smoking and disease in the 1980s.
Design: Analysis of 325 industry documents from the world wide web.
Results: In the 1980s Australian cigarette manufacturers were informed constantly by the international industry of the medical consensus that smoking caused disease. In addition Philip Morris (Australia) Limited received reports of Philip Morris' international biological research programme and visited its Richmond research facility; and WD&HO Wills part funded, co-managed, and contributed research to the British American Tobacco groups' biological research programme. Despite this knowledge, the Australian manufacturers had a policy of arguing to their employees, decision makers, and the general public that questions of smoking and disease were unresolved. The industry catalogued the literature, developed arguments against the main claims made by health groups, and attacked public health advocates who made statements linking smoking to death and disease. Industry studies suggested that a 20–30% minority of the Australian public agreed with the industry on smoking and disease, diminishing across the decade.
Conclusion: Australian manufacturers were clearly negligent in the 1980s, deliberately working to undermine Australians' understandings of the diseases caused by smoking despite their own private knowledge. Continuing scepticism about smoking and disease, corresponding with the industry's deceptions, exists in Australian smokers today, suggesting that their actions may have slowed the rate of decline in smoking prevalence. These revelations provide important evidence for Australian litigation and advocacy.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (239.0 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Carter S. M. Cooperation and control: the Tobacco Institute of Australia. Tob Control. 2003 Dec;12 (Suppl 3):iii54–iii60. doi: 10.1136/tc.12.suppl_3.iii54. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Chapman S. "It is possible he is a kind of nut": how the tobacco industry quietly promoted Dr William Whitby. Tob Control. 2003 Dec;12 (Suppl 3):iii4–iii6. doi: 10.1136/tc.12.suppl_3.iii4. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Chapman S. "We are anxious to remain anonymous": the use of third party scientific and medical consultants by the Australian tobacco industry, 1969 to 1979. Tob Control. 2003 Dec;12 (Suppl 3):iii31–iii37. doi: 10.1136/tc.12.suppl_3.iii31. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Chapman S., Byrne F., Carter S. M. "Australia is one of the darkest markets in the world": the global importance of Australian tobacco control. Tob Control. 2003 Dec;12 (Suppl 3):iii1–iii3. doi: 10.1136/tc.12.suppl_3.iii1. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Chapman S., Carter S. M. "Avoid health warnings on all tobacco products for just as long as we can": a history of Australian tobacco industry efforts to avoid, delay and dilute health warnings on cigarettes. Tob Control. 2003 Dec;12 (Suppl 3):iii13–iii22. doi: 10.1136/tc.12.suppl_3.iii13. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Chapman S., Carter S. M., Peters M. "A deep fragrance of academia": the Australian Tobacco Research Foundation. Tob Control. 2003 Dec;12 (Suppl 3):iii38–iii44. doi: 10.1136/tc.12.suppl_3.iii38. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Chapman S., Wong W. L., Smith W. Self-exempting beliefs about smoking and health: differences between smokers and ex-smokers. Am J Public Health. 1993 Feb;83(2):215–219. doi: 10.2105/ajph.83.2.215. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Francey N., Chapman S. "Operation Berkshire": the international tobacco companies' conspiracy. BMJ. 2000 Aug 5;321(7257):371–374. doi: 10.1136/bmj.321.7257.371. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hirschhorn N. Shameful science: four decades of the German tobacco industry's hidden research on smoking and health. Tob Control. 2000 Jun;9(2):242–248. doi: 10.1136/tc.9.2.242. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Malone R. E., Balbach E. D. Tobacco industry documents: treasure trove or quagmire? Tob Control. 2000 Sep;9(3):334–338. doi: 10.1136/tc.9.3.334. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]