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BIG TOBACCO FACTS 1. In 1996, a major tobacco company planned to boost cigarette sales by targeting homeless people. They called their plan "Project SCUM: Sub Culture Urban Marketing." 1 2. In 1997, a Big Tobacco executive once said, under oath, that he believed Gummy Bears were addictive like cigarettes. 2 3. In 1996, Charles Harper, R. J. Reynolds Chairman said, “If children don’t like to be in a smoky room, they’ll leave.” When asked by a shareholder about infants, who can’t leave a smoky room, Harper stated, “At some point they begin to crawl.” 3 4. Problems with self-esteem. Has menial, boring job. Emotionally insecure. Passive-aggressive. Probably leads fairly dull existence. Grooming not a strong priority. Lacks inner resources. Group conformist. Non-thinking. Not into ideas. Insecure follower. These are all terms taken from Big Tobacco's files that have been used to describe different groups of potential customers for their deadly, addictive products. 4 5. In 1994, the CEOs from 7 major tobacco companies testified before Congress, under oath, that they believe nicotine is NOT addictive. 5 6. More than 60% of tobacco-growing land in located in low-income countries where tobacco is cultivated as a cash crop for export. These countries are too poor to import food, so the tobacco crops prevent them from properly feeding their citizens. 10-20 million people could be fed if all tobacco crops were replaced with food crops. 6 7. A tobacco company once gave $125,000 worth of food to a charity, according to an estimate by The Wall Street Journal. Then, they spent well over $21 million telling people about it. 7 8. When asked why none of the company’s executives smoked, an RJ Reynolds representative responded. “We don’t smoke this shit. We only sell it. We reserve the right to smoke for the young, the poor, the black, and the stupid.” 8 9. Up to 5.7lbs of wood is used to make one pack of cigarettes. Through this process, the tobacco industry causes 494,000 acres of deforestation EVERY YEAR. This doesn't even include the paper or packaging. 9 10. Cigarette smoke contains about 7,000 different chemicals with at least 60 cancer-causing substances including benzene, vinyl chloride, arsenic, nickel, chromium, and cadmium. It also includes chemicals that are found in human sweat, pee, rocket fuel, mothballs, pesticides, formaldehyde, and household cleaners. 10 11. Smoking causes $96.7 billion worth of health care expenditures each year in the U.S. A big chunk of that is paid with that taxes that you pay. 11 12. As long ago as 1969, a tobacco company executive agreed to "avoid advertising directed to young people." Yet 10 years later, they supplied their products to be featured in The Muppet Movie and in 1994 said “Cherry Skoal is for somebody who likes the taste of candy, if you know what I’m saying.” 12 13. Big Tobacco labels their cigarettes with things like light, ultra-light and low-tar even though they can be as deadly and addictive as regular cigarettes. 13 14. 4.5 Trillion cigarette butts are thrown on the ground or in bodies of water each year. There are 7 billion people in the world. That means that every person in the world would need to pick up 642 cigarette butts a year in order to rid the earth of cigarette litter. 15. The tobacco industry has conducted experiments on animals for decades. In some experiments, beagles we strapped down and fitted with facemasks, which forced them to inhale smoke from lit cigarettes. This research led to discoveries on how to make cigarettes more addictive to humans. 16. The tobacco industry uses its revenues to test tobacco products on dogs, rabbits, mice and monkeys. In one study in 2008, monkeys were killed to examine the effect of nicotine on their brains. When smoking stops, the animal testing stops too. 17. R.J. REYNOLDS (MAKER OF CAMELS) DOES RESEARCH WITH MICE AND RABBITS TO UNDERSTAND THE EFFECTS OF SMOKING. RESEARCH CONCLUDED SMOKING CAUSES CANCER AND EMPHYSEMA. INSTEAD OF FURTHER RESEARCH, THE COMPANY DESTROYED THE RESEARCH, FIRED THE SCIENTISTS, AND TORE DOWN THE BUILDING. 18. Animal testing has been used by the tobacco industry to find ways to make their products more addictive (effective), not safer for humans. In one study, beagles were forced to breathe in toxic chemicals via tracheostomies and 28 of them died from lung cancer. 19. Reynolds American is the parent company of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. It is also the parent company of Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, the makers of Natural American Spirits. 20. On January 27, 2003 Philip Morris (PM) officially completed the change of its corporate name to "Altria Group.” Early evidence provided by Landor Associates (a market positioning strategy consulting firm for Philip Morris), stated that PM was attempting to escape the stigma of selling tobacco products by attempting to "re-position" its image in consumers' minds. According to Landor Associates, chief among the problems caused by PM's close identification with cigarettes were the following • "As awareness of tobacco issues increase, Philip Morris increasingly reacts/defends." • "As 'tobacco' image of Philip Morris increases, market value of Philip Morris decreases." The document also describes PM's "Future Business Focus" as "Away from declining, high risk, tobacco business" and towards the image of a "premier brand management company.” 1 Source: PROJECT SCUM. The Legacy Tobacco Documents Library; Issued: 1996. URL: http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/ciw66d00/pdf?search=%22project%20scum%22 2 Source: Deposition of JAMES J. MORGAN, April 17, 1997, NORMA R. BROIN, ET AL., PLAINTIFFS, VS. PHILIP MORRIS COMPANIES, INC., DEFENDANTS. CASE NO. 91-49738 CA 22. HOWARD A. ENGLE, M.D., ET AL., PLAINTIFFS, VS. RJ REYNOLDS TOBACCO COMPANY, ETC., ET AL., DEFENDANTS. CASE NO. 94-08273 CA 20. Page 13 of 45 of PDF. Page 78 of real report. Legacy Tobacco Documents Library. Philip Morris Collection. April 17, 1997. Bates Number: 2063670882/0926 Access Date: November 4, 2005 URL: http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/hkd38d00/pdf 3 Source: UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, . CA No. 99-2496(GK). March 17, 2005. Plaintiff, 9:32 a.m., v. PHILIP MORRIS USA, et al., Defendants. Washington, D.C. Quote from Charles Harper, R.J. Reynolds Chairman. Page 89. URL: http://bit.ly/N99gYo 4 Problems with self-esteem Source: RJR; HUNTER CS. MARKETING RESEARCH REPORT. INNER CITY BLACK CREATIVE EXPLORATORY. MARKETING DOC. R. J. Reynolds. American Legacy Documents. January 16, 1989. Access Date: June 30, 2005. Bates Number: 507119955/9990 Secondary Bates Number: MRD88 12121 Page 5. URL: http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/lsg28c00/pdf Not Into Ideas (page 1) Group Conformist (page 1) Non-thinking (page 5) Menial, Boring Job (page 6) Source: RUNNING LIST OF YA CHARACTERISTICS. Legacy Tobacco Documents Library. R.J. Reynolds. 1988. Access Date: June 14, 2005 Document Type: REPORT Bates Number: 507350280/0288. URL: http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/rtl28c00/pdf (Pages RJR449773 & RJR449778) Fairly Dull Existence (page 3) Insecure Follower (page 12) Source: SMOKER PSYCHOGRAPHICS. Brown and Williamson. Legacy Tobacco Documents Library. April 1981. Access Date: July 19, 2005. Document Type: MARKETING REPORT Bates Number: 549000992/1019 URL: http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/kch10f00/pdf Passive Agressive (page 5) Grooming Not a Strong Priority (page 15) Lacks Inner Resources (page 17) Source: MINDSET SEGMENTS. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company Documents. R.J. Reynolds. January 3, 1991 Access Date: June, 14, 2005. Document Type: REPORT Bate Number: 510320848/0876. Page 3/29 in PDF URL: http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/abr28c00/pdf 5 Source: Seven Dwarfs Gaffe Led to Legal Bonanza. Legacy Tobacco Documents Library. July 15 2000. British American Collection. Bates No: 325074264-325074265 URL: http://bit.ly/XEY5Rc 6 Source: Geist, H. (1999). Global assessment of deforestation related to tobacco farming. Tobacco Control , 8(1), 18-28. URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1763929/pdf/v008p00018.pdf 7 Branch, S. (2001, July 24). Philip morris's ad on macaroni and peace: kosovo tale narrows gap between philanthropy publicity. Wall Street Journal, p. B11A. URL: http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/pmu41c00/pdf 8 Deposition of David Goerlitz. (1998, November 9). District Court for Cleveland County. Case No. CJ-96-1499L URL:http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/ufr07a00/pdf?search=%22sell%20to%20the%20young%20po or%20black%20stupid%22 9 MUWANGA-BAYEGO H. TOBACCO GROWING IN UGANDA: THE ENVIRONMENT AND WOMEN PAY THE PRICE. TOBACCO CONTROL. 1994: 3: 255-6. URL: http://www.jstor.org/pss/20207042 10 Center for Disease Control and Prevention: Smoking & Tobacco Use. URL: http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/sgr/2010/consumer_booklet/chemicals_smoke 11 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Years of Potential Life Lost, and Productivity Losses—United States, 2000–2004. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2008;57(45):1226–8 [accessed 2011 Sept 22]. URL: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5745a3.htm 12 Tobacco Documents Library. American Tobacco Collection. July 22, 1969. URL: http://www.legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/ihz24f00/pdf?search=%22968062385%202581%22 13 U.S. V. Philip Morris USA, Inc., et al., No. 99-CV-02496GK (U.S. Dist. Ct., D.C.), Final Opinion, August 17, 2006 URL: http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/reports/doj/FinalOpinion.pdf .