Winokur, Matt; Zelkowitz, David; Beane, R. Nelson; Bring, Murray H.; Burrell, David; Buss, Martin D; Buzzi, Aleardo G; Devitre, Dinyar S; Dollisson, John; Francis, Phil; Gaisch, Helmut; Goldberg, Marc S.; Harris, D.; Holtzman, Alexander; Horst, Michael; King, J.; Moreno, Francisco J; Nelson, John R.; Newman, Fredric S.; Parrish, Steven C.; Pollak, Lee; Robinson, B.; Rodriguez, C.; Salguero, Carlos E; Thoma, Walter; von Maerestetten, Cynthia; Webb, William H.; Whist, Andrew
In a strong denial of the public health role of the World Health Organization and the global health threat caused by their tobacco products, this Philip Morris International (PM) internal memo from Geoffrey Bible speaks of the "extraordinary influence" the World Health Organization has on government and consumers saying, "we must find a way to diffuse this and re-orient [the WHO's] activities to their prescribed mandate." Bible further discusses how PM can use its vast resources (like technology and access to food) to influence governments to turn against the WHO:
"In addition, we need to think through how we could use our food companies, size, technology and capability with governments by helping them with their food problems and give us a more balanced profile with the government than we now have against WHO's powerful influence."
Bible mentions that a WHO initiative, a levy on tobacco sales in Victoria and South Australia to buy out tobacco sports and cultural sponsorships, "is a very effective strategy that we must stop."
Bible also speaks of "destroying" government attempts to regulate maximum constituent levels (MCL's) of toxic chemicals cigarette smoke, and links Philip Morris to the set-up of the smokers rights group Forest as well as a seemingly "independent" group called Libertad, which PM used to influence legislation. Bible proposes extending Libertad from France and Australia into other countries "so as to become a major influence in the formation of public policy."