Abstract
This 1988 Philip Morris document, marked "Personal and Confidential" describes PM's "ETS Project" [Environmental tobacco smoke project] for the European Economic Community (EEC), Eastern Europe, Middle East and Asia (EEMA). The author is David H. Remes, an attorney with the tobacco industry law firm of Covington and Burling, which carried out PM's International ETS Consultant Program (also known as the "Whitecoat Project").
Remes describes the objective of PM's ETS Program clearly:
"The objective of the PM EEC/EEMA ETS Project is to prevent the imposition of smoking restrictions in the EEC/EEMA regions based on the asserted health hazards of ETS to nonsmokers."
Remes describes the difficulties involved in the project:
"As long as anti-smoking forces can maintain a suspicion of risk [of the health effects of ETS], regulatory authorities and the general public are likely to choose to err on the side of caution and support smoking restrictions."
That regulatory authorities would err on the side of caution in public health issues regarding smoking was apparently undesirable to PM.
Remes lays out another problem facing PM, specifically that no one except members of the tobacco industry believes that tobacco smoke is harmless, and that therefore they will have to develop information that says ETS is harmless:
"The argument against smoking restrictions based on the existence of 'controversy' on the ETS health issue also is unlikely to prove persuasive because it is so reminiscent of the industry's argument on the primary [smoking and] health issue, which virtually no-one outside of the industry accepts. Thus, the industry will have to establish affirmatively that ETS presents no significant health risk to non-smokers."
Remes further describes a mission of the project: "to provide the scientific ammunition with which to meet threatened smoking restrictions in that market."
Fields
- Quotes
THE PM EEC/EEMA ETS PROJECT
DRAFT 20 Feb 1988
1. Objectives
The objective of the PM EEC/EEMA ETS Project is to prevent the imposition of smoking restrictions in the EEC/EEMA regions based on the asserted health hazards of ETS to nonsmokers. To realize this objective, three audiences must be persuaded that the health claims by anti-smoking forced concerning ETS are groundless. Those three audiences are the scientific community, regulatory authorities, and the general public...
...Scientists must be available who can attack the studies relied on by the anti-smoking forces to justify smoking restrictions on health grounds. Scientists and engineers also must be available who can demonstrate that any irritation to nonsmokers from ETS can and should be mitigated through improvement in ventilation/filtration systems in offices and other indoor environments...
In the longer term, it will not suffice to base the argument against smoking restrictions on the weakness of the case made by anti-smoking forces. As long as anti-smoking forces can maintain a suspicion of risk, regulatory authorities and the general public are likely to choose to err on the side of caution and support smoking restrictions.
The argument against smoking restrictions based on the existence of "controversy" on the ETS health issue also is unlikely to prove persuasive because it is so reminiscent of the industry's argument on the primary health issue, which virtually no-one outside of the industry accepts. Thus, the industry will have to establish affirmatively that ETS presents no significant health risk to non-smokers.
The industry can accomplish this long-term goal only by sponsoring a basic research programme... and by disseminating the knowledge generated by this research programme to the three audiences mentioned above...
2. Implementation
Ideally, the effort described above should be supported by all of the companies manufacturing or marketing cigarettes in each market. For the moment, PM EEC/EEMA is financing and directing the effort on its own, while attempting to persuade other companies and NMA's in the various markets to sponsor the effort with PM. It is possible that the attempt to persuade other companies and the NMA's to join in sponsoring the effort will be hampered by the "free rider" effect. On the other hand, other companies and the NMA's have an incentive to join in sponsoring the effort in order to have a say in its management, since the manner in which PM handles the ETS issue will affect the fortunes of the industry as a whole.
Within PM EEC/EEMA, Bill Murray has made available to S&T PME a special budget of sfr 2.5 million per annum to finance the generation of knowledge of the ETS issue through a basic research programme and the mobilisation of a corps of scientific consultants and engineers in each market...
...At the request of Bill Murray C&B [Covington and Burling] has undertaken to identify and organise the corps of scientific consultants and engineers in all of the markets around the world, including the EEC/EEMA regions...Candidates who have made public statements adverse to the industry on the primary health issue generally are avoided, lest those statements be attributed to the industry if these candidates were to be retained as consultants on the ETS issue...
...Finally, S&T PME [Science & Technology, PM Europe] is working closely with shook Hardy & Bacon of Kansas City (SH&B) to assure representation of the industry position on ETS-related scientific issues at conferences, symposia and major public hearings planned for 1988...
...S&T PME is producing a "product" -- scientists and scientific knowledge -- for use by the PM company president in each market. In each market, it would be the responsibility of the company president to use this product to best advantage in resisting smoking restrictions in his market.
...S&T PME expects that the company president and corporate affairs manager in each market would call on S&T PME regularly -- even daily-- to provide the scientific ammunition with which to meet threatened smoking restrictions in that market.
- Company
- Philip Morris
- Author
- Remes, David H., J.D. (Lawyer, Covington & Burling, USA)
Tobacco Industry Lawyer.Covington & Burling is an international law firm. D. Remes was based in Washington and worked on the ETS International Consultant Program.
- Region
- European Economic Community
- Eastern Europe
- Middle East
- Asia
- Named Organization
- *Air Conditioning & Ventilation Associates ((use ACVA Atlantic) Co. concerned with air quality; taken ov)
Air Conditioning and Ventilation Associates Atlantic (ACVA Atlantic) was a business concerned with indoor air quality that was run by Gray Robertson. ACVA and Robertson helped disseminate the tobacco industry's strategy of avoiding discussion of the ETS/health link by deflecting attention away from ETS to "the larger problem of all of indoor air." ACVA became Healthy Buildings International (HBI) and Philip Morris eventually took on more of the operations of HBI and made it international. ACVA/HBI and PM invented and publicized "sick building syndrome" to take attention away from cigarettes as a point-source of indoor air pollution.
- Anti Smoking Forces
- Batelle in Carouge Ge
- Center for Human Health + Human Toxicolo
- Cherchar Industrie in Verneuil En Halatt
- Covington & Burling (Tobacco Industry law firm)
Tobacco industry law firm. Was involved in organizing the Whitecoat Project.
- Imperial College
- Institut Fresenius in Taunusstein Neuhof
- National Manufacturers Association (Defense groups for cigarette companies worldwide)
In places around the world where these associations did not exist, the tobacco industry created them to help defeat public health efforts around tobacco.
- PM EEC, Philip Morris in the European Economic Community
- PM EEMA (Philip Morris in Eastern Europe, Middle East & Asia)
- PME, Philip Morris, Europe
- PMI, Philip Morris International
- S+T, Science & Technology (PME)
- Verband der Cigaretten Industry (Trade organization for the German tobacco industry)
NMA (National Manufacturers Organization) for Germany
- Wa Technical Information Group
- Litigation
- Ppla/Produced
- Operation/Project
- Project Whitecoat (Scientific Witness Project)
Global project to recruit respected scientists in developed countries around the world who would criticize the science on secondhand smoke, cast doubt on whether ETS harms people and "prolong the controversy" about the effects of environmental tobacco smoke on nonsmokers.
- Named Person
- Abenheim
- Adlkofer, Franz (VDC Research Director)
Argued in a 1988 joint meeting of the worldwide tobacco companies that the industry should stop developing "marketable science" for use in public relations to fight the secondhand smoke issue and instead should establish a safe threshold for exposure to secondhand smoke. (Bates No. 2021548222/8235)
- Balter, N.
- Bieva
- Faccini
- Gaisch, Helmut W. (PM Europe Science & Technology President)
Director and Principal Scientist, Tobacco Science and Technology, Fabriques De Tabac Reunite, S.A., (1987). Helmut Gaisch was an attendee at Philip Morris's 1987 Operation Downunder Conference, held to determine a new strategy the company could take on the issue of ETS. (PM's "Accommodation" strategy was borne from this conference). Gaisch worked to thwart ETS regulations in Europe using data from INBIFO. He was a Philip Morris European scientist, Head of Laboratories, FTR/Philip Morris Europe. Member to Tobacco Advisory Council (TAC), 1987.
- Leslie, G.
- Malmfors, T.
- Murray, R. William "Bill" (PM Pres. & CEO, PM Companies Inc.)
President and Chief Operating Officer, Philip Morris Companies Inc., USA. Served on Board of Directors for PM from 1987-89. Vice Chairman of Philip Morris Companies in 1990. Australian.Was President and CEO in 1992; Chairman 1994.
- Neurath, George (Chemist, Hamburg, Germany 1989)
Listed as one of the tobacco industry's "whitecoats" (consulting scientists) on secondhand smoke (Derived from Ness, Motely PM Bates No. 2023034933/4946, a memo from Andrew Whist to R.W. Murray listing current scientists in use in project).
- Nilsen, O.G.
- Perry, Roger (Consultant to Assoc. for Research in Indoor Air (ARIA))
1994
- Reif, Helmut E. (PM Europe Science & Tech. Director, 1980s)
Helmut Reif was Director of Science and Technology for FTR. (PMI's Introduction to Privilege Log and Glossary of Names, Estate of Burl Butler v. PMI, et al, April 19, 1996)
- Roe, Francis J. C. (Consultant in pathology for the Tobacco Research Committee)
F.J.C. Roe was a Consultant in cancer, toxocilogy and pathology for the Tobacco Research Committee. (PMI's Introduction to Privilege Log and Glossary of Names, Estate of Burl Butler v. PMI, et al, April 19, 1996)
- Type
- REPT, REPORT, OTHER
- Subject
- secondhand smoke
Document Images
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Fe&SANAt AND CDNF1DfN,T1At
THE PM EECIEEMA ETS PROJECT
DRAFT
20 FEB 7988
1. Objectives
J
The objective of the PM EEC/EEMA ETS Project is to
prevent the imposition of smoking restrictions in the
EEC/EEMA regions based on the asserted health hazards of ETS
to non-smokers. To realize this objective, three audiences
must be persuaded that the health claims by anti-smoking
forces concerniag ETS are groundless. Those three audiences
are the scientific community, regulatory authorities, and
the general public.
In the short term, the argument against smoking
restrictions must be based on the weakness of the scientific
case made by the anti-smoking forces. For this purpose,
scientists must be available who can attack the studies
relied on by the anti-smoking forces to justify smoking
restrictions on health grounds . Scientists and engineers
3 also must be available who can demonstrate that any
irritation to non-smokers from ETS can and should be
mitigated through improvements in ventilation/filtration
systems in offices and other indoor environments. Solving
the ETS "problem" should be made part of solving the more
general indoor air quality problem.
In the longer term, it will not suffice to base
the orgument against smoking restrictions on the weakness of
the case made by the anti-smoking forces. As long as anti-
smoking forces can maintain a suspicion of risk, regulatory
authorities and the general public are likely~hoose to err
on the side of caution and support smoking restrictions.
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I
The argument against smoking restrictions based on the
existence of "controversy" on the ETS health issue also is
unlikely to prove persuasive because it is so reminiscent of
the industry's argument on the primary health issue, which
virtually no-one outside of the industry accepts. Thus, the
industry will have to establish affirmatively that ETS
presents no significant health risk to non-smokers.
The industry can accomplish this long-term goal
only by sponsoring a basic research programme that takes
into account the gaps in existing scientific knowledge and
the requirements of particular markets, and by disseminating
the knowledge generated by this research programme to the
three audiences mentioned above. It can accomplish the more
immediate goal of defeating smoking restrictions as such
restrictions are proposed in particular markets only by
mobilising in each market a corps of scientific consultatnts
and engineers who can make the scientific case against
smoking restrictions through articles in scientific journals
and presentations at scientific conferences and symposia,
through articles and interviews in the mass media, and
through meetings with and appearances before regulatory
authorities.
2. lmplementation
Ideally, the effort described above should be
supported by all of the companies manufacturing or marketing
cigarettes in each market. For the moment, PM EECIEEMA is
financing and directing the effort on its own, while
attempting to persuade other companies and the NMAs in the
various markets to sponsor the effort with PM. It is
possible that the attempt to persuade other companies and
the NMAs to join in sponsoring the effort will be hampered
by the "free rider" effect. On the other hand, other
2501474254
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R: REDACTED MATERIAL
- 3 -
companies and the NMAs have an tncentive to join in
sponsoring the effort in order to have a say !n Its
management, since the manner In which PM handles the ETS
issue will affect the fortunes of the lndustry as a whole.
Within PM EEC/EEMA, Bill Murray has made available
to S&T PME a special budget of sfr 2.5 million per annum to
finance the generation of knowledge on the ETS issue through
a basic research programme and the mobilisation of a corps
of scientific consultants and engineers in each market. As
part of its basic research programme, S&T PME has thus for
entered Into or plans to enter into contracts with six
research laboratories through Europe. These include the
laboratory of Dr. Georg B. Neurath in Namburg (FRG), TNO in
Delft (NL), lnstitut Fresenius in Taunusstein-Neuhof (FRG),
Batelle !n Carouge/GE (CA), Cherchar Industrie in
Verneull-en-Nalatte (FR), and the laboratory of Prof. Roger
Perry at Imperial College 1n London (UK). S&T PME hopes to
enter Into a contract with Prof. Odd G. Nilsen of the
University of Trondheim (NO) to provide a research base in
Scandinavia.
MqCY Ey~ l2DAC~`d~~
) e~Ei~~~'c t ~
S&T PME
necessarily must work closely with the contract laboratories
to assure the soundness of their research from a scientific
standpoint and the coordination of their work.
Also as part of the ETS project, SdT PME is
flnancing the moblllsatlon of a corps of scientific
consultants and engineers in each market. At the request of
Bill Murray, C&B has undertaken to Identify and organise the
corps of scientific consultants and engineers !n all of the
markets around the world, including the EEC/EEHA regions.
To accomplish this task, C&B~ in turn has retained the
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- a -
Washington Technical lnformat)on Group lnc. (WT1G) to
identlfy and make preliminary contact with potential
consultants. CdB also has retained the Center for
Environmental Health and Human Toxicology In Washington
(CEHHT) to review the publications of the consultants
Identified by WTIG for the purpose of weeding out unsuitable
candidates. Candidates who have made public statements
adverse to the industry on the primary health issue
generally are avoided, test those statements be attributed
to the lndustry If those candidates were to be retained es
consultants on the ETS /ssue. RONC-M
The task of mobillsing scientific consultants and
engineers In the various markets within the EECIEEMA regions
is most advanced In the Nordic region and the UK. Dr.
Torb)orn Malmfors of Stockholm (SW) has agreed to serve as
the director of the corps of scientific consultants and
engineers in the Nordic region, and several scientists and
engineers from Sweden, Norway and Finland already have
agreed to be part of the effort. An lnitlal scientific
training session in Stockholm is scheduled for March ii,
1988, to be conducted by Dr. Malmfors with the assistance of
Drs. Gaisch and Relf of S6T PME and Dr. Nancy Balter of
CEHHT. Dr. Francis Roe and Dr. George Leslie of London (UK)
have agreed to serve as the directors of the corps of
scientific consultants and engineers !n the UK. More than a
dozen candidates have been conyacted already by Drs. Roe and
Leslle, and a number have indfcated their interest in
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J
becoming part of the effort. C&B has asked Drs. Roe and
Leslie to arrange a meeting between C&B and as many
interested candidates as possible at the earliest
opportunity to explain the nature of the ETS project and the
role of the candidates in detail. A meeting is contemplated
in early March.
Progress also has been made in identifying and, in
some cases, making preliminary contacts with potential
candidates in Switzerland, The Netherlands, Belgium, France
and Italy. In Belgium, Dr. Bieva may be chosen to serve as
the director of the corps of scientific consultants and
engineers; in France, Dr. Faccini or Dr. Abenheim may be
chosen as the director. C&B expects to have completed .the
task of organising the corps of scientific consultants and
engineers in each of these markets by June or July 1988.
For the moment, C&B is not attempting to mobilise a corps of
scientific consultants and engineers in Germany or Austria.
The VdC appears to have matters well in hand and has not
been eager to accept outside help. C&B submits to S&T PME
for approval the name of every candidate that it proposes to
enlist in the effort.
Finally, S&T PME is working closely with Shook,
Hardy & Bacon of Kansas City (SH&B) to assure representation
of the industry position on ETS-related scientific issues at
conferences, symposia and major public hearings planned for
1988. These include a May 5 general hearing before the
Austrian Health Minister in Vienna, which Dr. Adlkofer is
coordinating with Don Hoe1 of SH&B; a June 13-15 symposium
organised by Prof. Perry at Imperial College, in connection
with which Don Hoel also is assisting the industry; and a
November conference in Brussels that Dr. Bieva is attempting
to organise. In addition, other conferences and symposia
scheduled for 1988 -- such as the Healthy Buildings '88
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conference in Stockholm in September -- also will require
attention by S&T PME and SH&B.
3. Coordination with Corporate Affairs
In its basic research programme and its
mobilisation of scientific consultants and engineers in each
EEC/EEMA market, S&T PME is producing a°product" --
scientists and scientific knowledge -- for use by the PM
company president In each market. In each market, it would
be the responsibility of the company president to use this
product to best advantage in resisting smoking restrictions
in his market. Although this responsibility ultimately
would rest with the company president, from day to day the
corporate affairs manager for the market is likely to be
responsible for resisting particular threats.
S&T PME expects that the company president or
corporate affairs manager in each market would call on S&T
PME regularly -- even daily -- to provide the scientific
ammunition with which to meet threatened smoking
restrictions in that market. At the request of the company
president or the corporate affairs manager for a market, S&T
PME would be prepared to make scientists available for
conferences and symposia in that market, for meetings with
and hearings before regulatory authorities and for
specialised and mass media purposes. As a rule and within
the framework of available resources, S&T PME would provide
for the basic and general scientific services in terms of
generation of data and reviews, the organisation of events,
as well as the development and deployment of witnesses.
However, an especially large local scientific effort
undertaken in response to a specific local requirement in a
particular market would have to be covered by a special
budget (e.g., the nation-wide study undertaken by Prof.
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Perry in the UK to provide the basis for a balanced approach
in the Fourth Report).
To assure coordination and consistency in the ETS
effort throughout the EECIEEMA regions, S&T PME must
function as the clearinghouse for requests from each market
for scientific resources. This does not mean that company
presidents and corporate affairs managers may not deal
directly with the directors of the scientific corps in the
various markets, but it does mean that S&T PME must be kept
informed of the demands made on the local scientiffc corps
and be in a position to assure that the actions of the
scientific corps in each market are consistent with the
actions of the scientific corps in other markets and conform
with the overall scientific effort on ETS-related issues.
The planning and budgeting procedures that apply
normally to S&T PME will be applied for this project, and,
in case of a conflict of interests, such a conflict will be
resolved along the established lines of management. S&T PME
will collect the information necessary for planning and
budgeting in consultation with EEMA and EEC staff
departments. In collaboration with C&B, S&T PME will
undertake the utmost effort to persuade other manufacturers
and the NMAs to make a joint scientific and financial
commitment to this project. Apart from legal and logistical
concerns, a principal reason for relying on C&B is to have
an entity outside of PM that would be capable of serving as
the hub of a multi-company ETS effort.
ACVA Atlantic, of course, would remain an
important resource for the company president or corporate
affairs manager in each market. ACVA coordinates closely
with C&B but its operations are not part of the S&T PME
programme.
D. Remes
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