Tobacco: industry, market, society chronology

Résumé du document

Nowadays, the most commonly-spread form is the filter-tipped cigarette; big companies like Philip Morris use machines which can produce thousands of cigarettes a minute; the cigarette becomes omnipresent during the 20th century: from the middle-class person to the worker, from the student to the gangster, it is on everyone's lips; according to the way of smoking, it can be associated with very different images (composure, cool, smartness, nervousness...); but of course, its fame isn't so good today, since medical statistics put thousands of deaths each year down to tobacco.

This article emanates from the Members of Parliament's report against Imperial Tobacco Company. It tackles the problem of the sale of illegally smuggled cigarettes, which is provoked by the lack of a good cooperation between the State and Imperial Tobacco that would aim at curbing cigarette smuggling. Such a situation has two bad impacts: on the one hand, from the point of view of the taxpayer ("When customs asked legitimate questions about this activity Imperial's approach was to fob them off [l.55 to 58]", "enormous losses to the public purse [l.61-62]"), and on the other hand, from the companies' point of view ("It cannot help Imperial Tobacco's good name if there is a question mark over their attitude [l.68 to 70]").

Edward Leigh, the Tory Chairman of the committee, suggests two main solutions: "providing more timely responses to customs' requests for information [l.64 to 66]" and "exercising greater discretion in their choice of markets [l.66 to 68]". But there is still a gap between the wish and the reality; thus, a "full criminal investigation [l.81]" has been called for.

Extraits

[...] - Forecast: “World events, such as Formula One, must end sponsorship after eight years and in any case by October 2006.” (The Times) An example of recent or current legislation and regulation, mainly in order to protect passive smokers: The Victorian Tobacco Action Plan (in Australia): - Each year: tobacco kills almost 5000 Victorians annually and evidence has shown that lung cancer, heart disease, underweight babies and respiratory problems in children can be traced to second hand smoke; passive smoking is estimated to cause 1600 deaths in Australia every year (around 146 of these deaths are due to lung cancer, and ten times this number are from heart disease). - 1987: Tobacco Act banning advertising outside retail outlets containing tobacco trademarks and brands. - 1991: Gaming Machine Control Act requiring the gaming machine area to be smoke-free. [...]

[...] The US legal system and contingency fees. The lawsuits against tobacco companies have an impact too. They put the stress on a characteristic of the US legal system that is highly controversial: the contingency fees. “Five Texas lawyers have been awared a record $ 3.3 billion in fees for reaching a $ 17.3 billion settlement in the state's lawsuit against the tobacco industry earlier this year. [ . ]The lawyers were hired on the understanding that they would earn nothing if they lost the state's lawsuit, filed against a group of big tobacco companies to recoup healthcare costs incurred treating smoking-related diseases over the past three decades.” (The Times). [...]

[...] - 1971: all the tobacco brand names manufactured in the EEC have a hand on the whole market. Recent developments in the tobacco industry : -since 1994: the tobacco industry has been the subject of a series of lawsuits brought by individual US states, which have led to two multi- million dollar out-of-court settlements; the states sued to recoup the cost to Medicaid of treating tobacco-related diseases; this in turn has led to lawsuits brought by private citizens, insurance companies and class actions. [...]

[...] - 2002: miscellaneous amendments, the Tobacco Bill 2002, is introduced in order to further protect Victorian from the effects of passive smoking. People started being told about the tobacco dangers quite many years ago and there have been lawsuits against tobacco companies for several years; therefore, it is a well-known issue, which may explain that we don't find lots of long articles about it nowadays. “Imperial Tobacco accused of aiding sale of smuggled cigarettes”, by David Hencke (Guardian Weekly); published in January 2003. [...]

[...] Laws against drug smuggling are not effective, as the article shows. Legislation banning smoking in public places, mainly in the USA but also in Britain or Australia, entails double-edged regulations: on the one hand, it may reduce passive smoking and peer pressure that can make people start smoking (because they are attracted by some examples or by a climate in which smoking is seen as acceptable and modern . but on the other hand by forbidding smoking in pubs and restaurants, for instance, a government would seem run a nanny state” (The Times), that is a fearful state where people are given little freedom. [...]