Report from Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Earlier this month it was reported in an abstract paper by Canadian Medical Association Journal that British American Tobacco had its affiliate, the Imperial Tobacco company destroy over sixty research documents dating back to 1992.
With this action now surfacing the embarrassment for big tobacco could also lead to future litigation due to the implications of the information discovered in the studies.
Studies on Carcinogenics in Cigarettes and Nicotine Addiction
The documents were internal research studies to better understand the effects of smoking cigarettes and offered evidence on the negative and addictive effects of smoking and nicotine addiction.
Specifically the sixty documents focused on cigarette carcinogenics and their addictive nature.
At the time, worries about this information becoming public provoked the destruction of the documents for fear that if the people became less attracted to nicotine the loss of revenue could greatly effect the British American Tobacco giants profits. Also, if the evidence found in the research made its way to government regulators it would most likely lead to regulatory implications and actions that could effect the growth and profits of the industry.
By visiting the CMAJ website you can read the original abstract.
Abstract by David Hammond, Michael Chaiton, Alex Lee, and Neil Collishaw
View the CMAJ PDF files containing a summary of the studies:
Denying Your Rights to Know
If you are a smoker and think that you haven’t been manipulated into smoking think again.
The proof of the dangers of smoking cigarettes has been known for a long time and it should make you as mad as hell that you weren’t made aware by those dispensing them before you started the habit.
Had you known the facts of these studies you could have made a real choice. Rather than protect the consumer, it is our opinion that Big Tobacco was and still is more interested in creating profits than protecting anyone’s health, or the health of those breathing a smoker’s second hand smoke.
Research Focus on Two Important Points
We need to also mention that two points in the sixty studies revealed that second-hand smoke, especially from low-delivery cigarettes was more toxic than directly smoking, and smoking filtered cigarettes lead to greater smoke inhalation for about the same amount of nicotine intake.
Hopefully uncovering the science in these documents will lead to positive steps for creating greater awareness on the dangers of tobacco addiction as the science behind this news is uncovered and shared with others.
Credit & Copyright: David Hammond, Michael Chaiton, Alex Lee, and Neil Collishaw
Destroyed documents: uncovering the science that Imperial Tobacco Canada sought to conceal
Can. Med. Assoc. J. 0: cmaj.080566v1.
Absolutely unbelievable, this kind of reminds me of those new commercials that make a job sound really great, and then it turns out to be a cigarette exec., and it talks about all of the negative things they do.
Where there is big money involved and self interest you will always find cover-ups. Remember the Erin Brockovich film?
It really makes you think about the reach of all those ads that were on the radio, TV, and in magazines, and newspapers etc. for years. Much money was spent on those but even more money was made. I bet the amount the tobacco industry paid to lobby their interests over the years was a staggering amount.