Anne Landman's Collection
No Title
Length: 2 pages
2060546551-2060546552
Abstract
Biotechnology and the human genome project may not be being used purely for human good, especially if biotech firms have relationships with global public relations firms. In this letter, the director of media for Philip Morris' PR firm, Burson-Marstellar, invites PM to team up with an "advanced biotech research organization" in Britian that was involved in the human genome project. Burson-Marstellar (and apparently the biotech firm) proposed that perhaps through their human genome research they could locate a gene that predisposes people to smoking-related diseases. The Burson-Marstellar employee helpfully volunteers that this could be a way to ease Philip Morris' liability for making a deadly product:
"This work could be interesting to Philip Morris for at least three reasons:
--A simple test might eventually be devised to tell a smoker whether or not he is at risk. This would put the burden of any consequence from smoking on the individual, and would clear the way for the non-susceptible population to smoke with a clear conscience.
--Philip Morris would be seen to be contributing to research into the health effects of smoking...
--Finally, someone will eventually get around to this kind of research. Wouldn't it be better to be leading it?
Fields
- Quotes
Dear David,
An advanced biotech research organisation in the UK, Amersham International, is involved in the genome project--the long term effort to identify all human genes. Through a friend of mine, I have discovered a possible Amersham project that could have an impact on the tobacco industry. You may be miles ahead of me in this area, but I thoguht it was important enough to pass along, just in case.
The point of this project would be to help individuals understand their genetic susceptibility to disease related to smoking. Since we all react differently to the effects of smoking, it obviously would be useful for each person to know whether or not he or she carried the genes that make ill effects likely.
This work could be interesting to Philip Morris for at least three reasons:
--A simple test might eventually be devised to tell a smoker whether or not he is at risk. This would put the burden of any consequence from smoking on the individual, and would clear the way for the non-susceptible population to smoke with a clear conscience.
--Philip Morris would be seen to be contributing to research into the health effects of smoking. Among other things, the research could determine the proportion of the population most at risk, potentially a powerful piece of information.
--Finally, someone will eventually get around to this kind of research. Wouldn't it be better to be leading it?
According to my friend, pharmaceutical companies are already investing massively in research into genetic association with certain diseases. As you may know, genes indicating susceptibility to breast cancer and prostate cancer are already identified.
What is needed is more clinical studies to determine the relationship between gene structure and its clinical expression. As my friend puts it, we now need to triangulate three elements: the smoking population, the gene structure and disease profile. I believe this is the area they would like to discuss...
...If you care to pursue this, I would be happy to dig deeper or get Manny together with the Amersham people. I know they would welcome a chance to meet.
- Company
- Burson-Marstellar
- Author
- Michael Johnson, Director of Media
- Recipient
- David Greenberg, Vice President, Philip Morris Corporate Affairs Europe