The Tobacco Industry Documents What They Are, What They Tell Us, and How to Search Them
THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY DOCUMENTS WHAT THEY ARE, WHAT THEY TELL US, AND HOW TO SEARCH THEM A PRACTICAL MANUAL The WHO Tobacco Free Initiative would like to thank Dr Norbert Hirschhorn for the preparation of this document. F O R E W O R D THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY DOCUMENTS:WHAT THEY ARE, WHAT THEY TELL US, AND HOW TO SEARCH THEM 04 In 1998, six million once secret documents from seven cigarette manufacturers doing business in the US became available to the public as a result of legal action. There were documents from 7 cigarette manufacturers and two affiliated organizations: Philip Morris Incorporated, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation, British American Tobacco Industries, Lorillard Tobacco Company, the American Tobacco Company, the Liggett Group, the Tobacco Institute and the Council for Tobacco Research. The documents that include letters, fax, memos, etc written by company scientist, consultants, lawyers, top executives, other employees and outside organizations amounted to over 35 million pages. In 2002, the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean published the first edition of The tobacco industry documents: what they are, what they tell us, and how to search them. A practical manual. The aim was to help journalists, public health professionals and advocates, government officials and the public to search these documents and thereby expand their use outside academia. Recognizing the value of the information contained in these internal industry document archives, while also acknowledging its limitations, the WHO Tobacco Free Initiative decided to publish a second edition of the manual. The information provided in these documents, as well as the reports that have been prepared describing their content, provide a wealth of information about some of the plans and processes of the tobacco companies in their attempt to delay or obstruct tobacco control measures and policies.
[Show full text]