Anne Landman's Collection
Document R1561_87
Abstract
Page 55 of this lengthy document (labeled Bates No. 301150924) introduces the INFOTAB ETS Project. The document proposes that the global tobacco industry work together to mount an "internationally cohesive campaign" to fight legislation regulating public smoking. Page 55 begins,
"Environmental tobacco smoke is the subject of increasing concern worldwide. To resist the legislation that may result from this concern, the industry should mount an internationally cohesive campaign."
It continues,
"Infotab is generating a strategy for managing the ETS issue, to emphasize the doubts that have been expressed in the scientific debate about the alleged hazards of ETS... A common strategic line in many countries simultaneously will have a beneficial effect on the industry worldwide."
This document indicates that the global tobacco companies sought to to act in concert to obscure information worldwide about the health effects of exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke. The distribution list for the Infotab ETS Project document includes representatives of tobacco interests in Malaysia, Switzerland, France, Ireland, Belguim, Greece, Norway, Argentina, Australia, the United Staes, West Germany, Sweden, Canada, Finland, Zimbabwe, Brazil, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Netherlands, Denmark, United Kingdom, representatives of Rothmans, British American Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco, R.J. Reynolds, Reentsma, Philip Morris and Shook, Hardy and Bacon (U.S. tobacco industry attorneys).
Fields
- Notes
Selected from the Guildford documents by Health Canada. Selected on visit 4 (Nov 2000)
- Quotes
[From Page 53]
I am attaching an outline of Infotab plans to combat the increasing publicity caused by allegations of health risks associated with Environmental Tobacco Smoke.
Member companies and NMAs (National Manufacturers Associations) are asked to contribute to this important piece of work by sending suggestions to Infotab of strategically useful arbuments that have beenused in their areas of influence...
...The Infotab workshop programme in Washingtonin October will place considerable emphasis on E.T.S.
[ED. NOTE: the Distribution List for the above memo and the mentioned "kitset" includes representatives of tobacco interests in Malaysia, Switzerland, France, Ireland, Belguim, Greece, Norway, Argentina, Australia, the United Staes, West Germany, Sweden, Canada, Finland, Zimbabwe, Brazil, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Netherlands, Denmark, United Kingdom as well as representatives of Rothmans, British American Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco, R.J. Reynolds, Reentsma, Philip Morris and Shook, Hardy and Bacon (industry attorneys).
PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL
INFOTAB ETS PROJECT
Environmental tobacco smoke is the subject of increasing concern worldwide. To resist legislation that may result from this concern, the industry should mount an internationally cohesive campaign.
Infotab is generating a strategy for managing the ETS issue, to emphasize the doubts that have been expressed in the scientific debate about the alleged hazards of ETS and to place it in contaxt amongst other constitutents of ambient air. A common strategic line in many countries simultaneously will have a beneficial effect on the industry worldwide.
As further assistance to NMA's, Infotab is producing a kitset of public affairs materials for use by NMA's when addressing the issue of ETS. This will be presented in the form of a "Campaign Guide" which will include resources such as leaflets on the main sub-issues related to ETS and advice on ways to use such material later after it has been adapted to local conditions.
Amongst the resources included in the kitset will be a video produced specially for opinion-leaders. This will outline the main arguments and contain short extracts of interviews with scientific experts of international standing...
The Campaign Guide will first address six sub-issues (others may be added as the situation develops):
--ETS and its effect on health --ETS and its effect on women, children, babies and the foetus, --Smoking at work --Smoking in aircraft and other forms of transport --Smoking in restaurants and other parts of the hospitality industry --The contributions of ETS to ambient air quality
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Document Images
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Smokir~ and Leukaemia
A study was recently published in the British Medical Journal (L J Kinlen,
E RoBot. Leukaemia and smoking habits among United States veterans.
British Medical Journal 297: 657-659, 1988) examining the possible
existence of an association between smoking and leukaemia. The study
claimed that smokers were I.$3 times more likely to develop leukaemia than
non-smokers. In two particular types of leukaemia, monocytic and chronic
and unspecified myelozd leukaemias, the relative risk was alleged to be
1.93. The association was also reported to be dose-related.
In the same issue of the journal, Professor Nicholas Wald (an ex-student
of Sir Richard Doll and a member of the UK Independent Scientific
Committee on Smoking and Health) wrote an editorial on this subject. His
conclusion was as follows: "Whatever the mechanism, the balance of
evidence suggests that smoking may cause leukaemia. This cancer can now
be added to the list of tobacco-related causes of death summarised by the
World Health Organisation, including it along with diseases such as
bladder cancer in category 'disease for which the excess mortality in
smokers may be partly or wholly attributable to smoking-"
The following points should be noted:-
Professor Wald's suggestion that leukaemia could now be added to the
list of tobacco-related causes of death is inconsistent with a large
section in which he discusses the possibility that the claimed
association between smoking and leukaemia is not causal. This
highlights the somewhat arbitrary and unscientific approach that may
be adopted when deciding which diseases are placed on tobacco-related
lists of the WHO and similar organisations.
The Surgeon-General. in his 1982 report: "The Health Consequences of
Smoking: Cancer" did not even consider leukaemia in his list of
cancers that have been associated with smok:ng. The authors of the
study note that "ieukaemia has in general not been regarded as a
malignancy related to smoking."
Relative risks of 1.53 - 1.93 fall into the area of low risk
epidemiology. Since many eminent epidem~ologists who are opponents of
the tobacco industry have suggested that a relative risk of this
magnitude is likely to be artefactual and a result of bias or error,
then no conclusions can be drawn based on this result. Similar
criticisms of conclusions drawn from low-range relative risks are made
in connection with studies on environmental tobacco smoke.
Even if one accepted the claimed association to be valid, there is no
evidence that it is causal; Professor Weld notes that "Associations
with a relative risk of about I°5 may be due to an indi[ect
association: smoking itself may thus be associated with some other
(confounding) factor that is itself associated with ieukaemia."
Stu=ies claiming to observe an association between smoking and ieukaemia
are very few. The relative risk that is reported in the present study,
which is the biggest to date, is small enough that it Is possible ~hat the
alleged association is artefaetual or a result of b:as in the study. It
is also important to note that epidemiologioal studies cannot prove
causation, and no mechanism is known by which smoking could influence the
development of leukaemia.
Dr Sharon Boyse
S~/.~H
20 Sepzember !9~8
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BATCo document for Legal Services • Health Canada 29 November 2000
~vical Cancer
A number of articles appeared in the British press at the end of last
week, discussing a study published in the Lancet relating to smoking and
cervical cancer. The study referred to was:- S S Barton, P H Maddcx,
D Jenkins, R Edwards, J Cuzick, A Singer. £ffect of cigarette smoking on
cervical epithelial immunity: a mechanism for neoplastic change? The
Lancet, September 17, 1988.
The argumentation used in the stud)" is as follows:
They assume that there is a well-established statistical association
between smokie4 and cervical cancer based on epidemiological studies.
They also assu~e that the immune system plays a major role in the
causation of cervical cancer i.e. that there is a lowered immune
response in women who develop cervical cancer, and that because this
protective system is diminished it is easier for cervical cancer to
develop.
Some studies have suggested that a virus (human papilloma yirus) is a
major cause of cervical cancer° Since the immune system plays a major
role in ridding the body of viruses, it is assumed that if the
efficiency of the i~mune system were in some way diminished, then the
virus will have more chance of taking hold and leadtn~ to cervical
cancer.
The authors went on to investigate the presence, in the cervix, of
cells that are believed to be important in the functioning of the
immune system (Langerhans cells). The number of Langerhans cells
present in each individual was then correlated with the number of
cigarettes smoked°
The authors claimed that there was a dose - response relationship
between the number of Langerhans cells present in the ceFvix and the
number of cigarettes smoked. They claimed that smokers had fewer
Langerhans cells than non-smokers.
The authors interpret this finding as evidence that smokers have a
reduced capacity for producing a protective immunological response in
the cervical area, and that therefore their chances o~ developing
cervical cancer may be increased.
The following points should be borne in mind when considering the resuits
of this Stud>':-
The CS Surgeon-General, in his 19~2 Report "The Health Consequences of
Smoking: Cancer" dre~ the following conclusions: "There are
conflicting results in studies published to date on the existence o~ a
relationship between smoking and cervical cancer% further research is
necessary to define whether an association exists and, i£ so, ~he£he[
that association is direct of indirect." It was therefore the view of
the US Surgeon-General on the basis of epide~io!ogical studies in
existence at thal time (and there have beeB no s~&nificant studies
since) that an association between smoking and cervical cancer has
been established.
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BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 29 November 2000
There have been investigators who despite the views of the
$urgeon-Generai, have claimed the existence of an association between
smokin8 at cervica£ cancer. However, even these investigations ba~e
.recognised that this claimed association may be due to unknown
confounders: for example, cervical cancer is known to be associated with
early exposure to, and subsequently high Levels of., sexua£ intercourse.
It has been suggested by some investigators that smokers are more sexually
active and that this is the foundation for an artefactual association
between smoki~ and cervical cancer.
There are s~sy risk factors for cervical cancer for which the claimed
association is considerably more robust than that claimed for smokir~
e.g. age at ficst pregnancy, number of sexual partners, infection with
human papilloma virus.
The extent to which immune factors are critical in the development of
cervical cancec has not yet been established.
The authors mention that they are also £nvestigatir~ the effect on
cervical cancer of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. However,
since no statistica£ association has been established to exist for active
s~oking, it is even less Likely to be measurable in the case of passive
smoking.
~he study reported in the Lancet did not directly address the question of
the alleged association between smoking and cervical cancer. The US
Surgeon-General did so in 1982 and concluded that no firm association has
been established. In the absence of such association it is not possible
to dec~de whether the reported observation that smokers have fewer
Langerhans cells has any bearing at all on their likelihood of developzng
cervical cancer.
Dr Sharon Boyse
SB/~
20~h September 1988
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BATCo document for Legal Services • Health Canada 29 November 2000
NOtes o~ "ETS - Ind~Ltrv Interface M~etinz", $~. James' .CourtJt.HH, ot~L~
17 Jun l~_j~88988.
This meeting was organised by Don Hoel of Shook, Hardy and Bacon to
occur during the same week as the Imperial College Conference on
indoor Air Quality organised by Professor Perry. Members of the
industry from the USA, Canada, tiE, Germany and Japan were invited, and
the stated objective of the meetinE (see attached agenda from Don
Hoel) was as follows:- "To briag together industry scientists to
discuss scientific research and strategies on iTS and how these relate
Elobally".
2. A brief description of the contents of the meeting follows. However,
there were several fundamental problems with the meeting as a whole:-
(i) There were far too many delegates, particularly ~rom the UI<.
(ii)
Nobody knew exactly what the meeting was intended to achieve,
other than exchange of information on events in different parts
of the world, and everyone seemed to be expecting sore than
this,
(ill)
There were fundamental differences in approach between many of
the scientists, lawyers and public affairs members of the
meeting. Io some companies or markets this no longer presents
a problem; however, many European scientists (e~ Dr. Adlkofer
of the German Verband) are clearly unused to the unique way of
looking at science that A~erican lawyers have developed. With
this kind of problem of basic philosophy, there was no way that
the m~eting could have been expected to achieve anything.
(iv)
There was also a strange mix of delegates from another point of
view: some delegates represented industry manufacturers'
associations (eg TAC, TI, JTI, Verhand); other delegates
represented companies that operate only in one market (eg
Imperial Tobacco and Gallaher, UK; Austrian Tobacco) and other
delegates represented companies that are used to thinking on a
more global scale (BAT, PM, RJR). For the latter companies a
global approach is essential; for the former delegates it was
merely interesting but not particularly relevant. Again, this
inevitably led to problems of approach and objectives.
3o
At the end of the meeting Don Hoel asked for opinions as to whether
the meetin~ had been useful, whether additional meetings should be
held, and if so, at what intervals. A number of opinions were
expressed ranging from Oskar Stuhle (RJR German)') ~ho thou~ht such
meetings were excellent things, to Tom Osdene (PH USA) who appeared to
be at variance with his colleagues in Switzerland in believin~ that
such meeti~s were largely a waste of time because it was not possible
to set priorities with such a larse variety of people present. PM US
& Europe seemed to be at variance on a number of issues; Tom Osdene
apparently did not like Helmut Gaisch's 'white coat' strategy of ETS
(see previous note on PM'S ETS strategy) and was convinced that the
Centre for Indoor Air Research in the USA was the only way forward.
In any event, no decision could even be formed about the future of
similar meetings, and the meeting broke up in some disarray.
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BATCo document for Legal Services " Health Canada 29 November 2000
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In spite of the large number of companies and organisations present,
the meeting was Largely Philip Morris-driven, and constant reference
was made by both sets of lawyers (from Shook, Hardy & Bacos and
Covington and Burling) to what PM had been doiug. Since both Stoups
are deeply involved in PH's ETS strategy, this is perhaps not
surprisi~.
CO.
Mr. N.B. Cannar )
Hr. A.L. Heard ) Millbank
Mr. R.L.O. Ely )
Dr, R.E. Thornton )
Dr. R. Binns }
Dr. R.R. Baker ) Southampton
Dr. C.J. Proctor )
Dr. P.J. [)unn
Mr. R. Sachs
Imperial Tobacco, Montreal -
B&~, Louisville
Scientific Research Group:-
Dr. C.J.P. de Siqueira - Souza Cruz
Dr. S. Massey - ITL
Mr. E. Kohn - BATCF
Dr. J.G. Esterle - B&W
Dr. G. Smith - BAT UK&E
Mr. T. Wilson - WD&HO Wills
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~National and International Activities an~.
(i) EEC
Presentation made by Dr. A.J. Nelmes of Gallaher. Dr. Nelmes
described the Independent Scientific Committee's Fourth Report,
the Health Educatisn Authority's educationaJ campai@ns, and the
Department o[ Health's annual report.
G ERHA.~%":
Presentation made by Dr. F. Adlkefer of the Verband der
Cigarettenindustrie. Dr. Adlkofer noted that the social
acceptability of smoking is a major problem, particularly in
light of the EEC's 'Europe Against Cancer' Campaign and the
difficulties in putting together a coordinated strategy against
this. At this time the response of the German government was
unpredictable.
(ii) US.%
Presentation made by John Rupp of the law firm Covington & Burling.
Mr. Rupp noted that the ETS situation was still dominated by the Surgeon -
General's report and the National Academy of Sciences report in 1986, and
that the conclusions of this report were still continually cited.
Bowever, ~988 had been a good year legislatively, in that on a state level
legislation for 1988 was now over, and no statewide measures of any
significauce, and few at a local level, had been introduced.
The most negative legislative development was the action by the US
congress to ban smoking on flights of less than 2 hours. Effort was now
directed at ensurin~ tha£ this measure was not renewed after its 2 - year
period. Mr. Rupp believed that the major threat in the US was not
legislative but attitudinal i.e° social pressure. The followin~ were
noted as potentially significant:-
- California, proposition 65: ETS has been listed by the scientific
advisory panel as constituting a significant risk; effort has been
made to resist this classification. However, the terms of the bill
require that only a general warning is required to be posted in
environments where listed chemicals are to be found i.e. ETS would not
appear on the warning notice.
- The Environmental Protection bdency were considering ETS in the
context of indoor air quality, and looking at developing material
against smoking. No significant developments were thought to be
imminent, and the US industry was tryilig to work with the agency.
US Congress was considering general legislation on air quality.
However, it was believed that the Reagan administration does not
support this and that therefore it is unlikely to be approved this
year.
The Department of Transportation was studying air quality aboard
co~ercial airlines as a result of the 2 - hour ban. Proposals for
work were to go out to scientists. With the continuing deterioration
in public attitudes, the Centre for Indoor Air Research (Tom Osdene)
and the Tobacco Institute (John Lyons) were trying to put forward a
more balanced approach.
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BATCo document for Legal Services : Health Canada 29 November 2000
(iii) Elsewhere
JAPAN - presentation from the Japan Tobacco Institute.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare had set up an expert committee in
March 1986 and had written a Report reviewing foreign and domestic
literature on smoking and health in March 1987. The co~ittee intends
to offer non-smoking guidance.
- The Ministry of Labour in July 1987 had set up a panel to consider
smoki~ in the workplace; a report was expected to be issued soon°
The Ministry of Education in June ~986 produced a handbook on health
guidance on non-smoking.
The Ministry of Finance in April 1988 set up a scientific
sub-committee to consider trends in smokin~ and health abroad and in
Japan.
The 12th World Conference on Smokin~ and Health held in Tokyo in 1987
specifically mentioned iTS in its Recommendations.
- The Japanese Society of Public Health established a Committee on
smokin~ in 1987 to review the literature.
The Tokyo bar Association in 1987 proposed to the government to
restrict smoking in public places.
- Japan Air Lines have increased their non-smoking seats, as have
internal Japanese airlines.
- Smoking is banned ia the undergrounds, including Tokyo.
- Workplace - few companies have totally prohibited smoking, but this is
increasing.
CANADA - presentation by Dr. P. Dunn, rmperial Tobacco.
Canadian manufacturers have set up a task force to p~omote the reality of
iTS as a minor component, investigating in new scientific data and
concentrating on smoking in the workplace.
The Toronto city by-law asainst smoking rivals the New York ban in its
scope. One person in any environment can require smokin~ to be banned.
2 bills had recently been passed in the Federal House of co~ns: CS~,
ban~in~ advertising, and C20&, a private members bill reKulating smokin~
in the federal workplace; the hazardous products act is amended to include
cigarettes.
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Sess~o. 2, ~trv R~search_apd,Ob~ec/j~v~.~
(i)
L~: Presentation by Dr. A. Nel=es, Gatlaher.
strategy ~as as follows:-
Tobacco Advisory Council
To naintain doubt about the science
to put iTS in its proper perspective in relation to air quality
to dissociate perceived distaste from the health focus.
Its objectives were as follows:-
To 'create marketable science' [NB this latter phrase caused a
considerable amount of controversy, and most scientists
insisted that a given piece of research is 'created' because
there is a scientific need to do so, and then °marketed'; it is
not 'created' ~ it is inherently more 'marketable' than
another piece]
to deflect criticism
to cast doubt.
TAC was concentrating on the follouing areas:=
To show that aggregating equivocal and inherently deficient
epidemiological studies cannot lead to an unequivocal
conclusion
misclassification of smokers as sob-smokers in epidemiological
studies
other airborne substances.
TAC was proposin~ to carry out the following studies:-
An office environment sick building study, with Gray
Robertson/ACVA
a study on volatile organic substances in the workplace
(someone in Birmingham).
G ERMANY:
Presentation by Dr. Kluss, Austrian Tobacco. The presentation
centred around a conference 08 ET$ orsanised in Vienna for the
benefit of the health ministry, at which a number of Austrian
and foreign scientists had been invited. The meeting had
apparently been a sreat success; particularly evident had been
controversy between epidemiologists and toxicologists in the
ETS field.
(ii) us__~A
Presentation made by Tom Osdene, Philip Morris (USA). The presentation
centred around the Centre for Indoor Air Research and their aims (see
previous notes on PM ETS strategy). He seemed to believe that if one
could point out enough flaws in Hirayama's data, then the data base would
go away and so, therefore, ~ould the issue. However, such an approach
fails to account for the many studies published since Hirayama's original
paper.
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Mary Ward, a RJR lawyer attached to their iTS group, and Mary Potoff,
Corporate Affairs PM Europe were requested to give some detail on the
airline studies that have recently been carried out. Other airlines had
been, or were to be, approached e.g. SA$, Varig, Finnair.
C~ADA - Presentation by Dr. P. Dunn, Imperial Tobacco.
The aim was to set up a Canadian database for iTS issues, since much of
the data currently used in Canada h~d been generated abroad. The Canadian
industry had been working with the tobacco institute to identify expertise
in the area. It was also intended to set up an Indoor Air Quality
Research Centre, hopefully with other interested industries.
JAP.~ - Presentation by the JTI.
The JTI has a Smoking Research Foundation to carry out research, and
central research laboratories measuri~ environmental smoke. A copy of
summaries of 10 projects supported by the JTI is attached.
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Session 3. Scientific Informatiqn. and Media Objectives and..&ctivities
( i ) EE__CC
UK First presentation by Dr. R.E. Thornton, BATCo,
The following points were made:-
(i)
That care had to be taken in the dissemination of unpublished
data to interested parties: for example, Peter Lee's
presentation to the Independent Scientific Co~ittee of his
unpublished results on misclassification, was very rapidly
followed by a publication on this subject from Professor
NJ Wald.
(ii)
That care also had to be taken when contributing to, or
organising, scientific conferences on ETS. These conferences
were not always perceived to be credible, re the conference at
Imperial College earlier in the week and this was frequently
not helped by the often poor quality of presentations by
industry ° funded researchers or consultants.
(iii)
That particular attention should be paid to certain aspects of
toxicology e.g. the use of DNA adducts by some researchers a~
~arkers for subst~ces like k"TS. This should be anticipated.
(iv) A lot of attention should be aimed at providiv~ journalists
with information.
The second presentation was made by Clive Turner, Public Affairs Director
of the Tobacco Advisory Council.
Mr. Turner believed that science was now takir~ second place to
irritation/public opinion/"the perceived wisdom". He presented a n~ber
of advertisements that TAC have issued in the national press criticisir~
bans on smoking in public places etc.
GERMA~" - Dr. Adlkofer made the presentation. His opinion was as
follows:-
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
No breakthrough can be expected in the analytical area, even if
the work is sophisticated.
Attention should be aimed at criticising the use of
conventional epidemiological techniques to measure such a low
risk.
Biological ~onitorir~ will also become very important; this
area should be studied, protective and metabolic mechanisms
should be investigated, and the non-threshoLd theory of
carcinogenesis should be fought, as should regulatory risk
evaluation procedures. John Rupp of Covington & 8urli~
criticised this approach, saying biological monitorin~ will not
solve any problems and that neither will the observation of a
threshold. He seemed to believe that the industry should do
its own epidemiological studies, although did not offer any
suggestions as to why this might help.
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