According to an article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (November 10, 2009), “In 1992, British American Tobacco had its Canadian affiliate, Imperial Tobacco Canada, destroy internal research documents that could expose the company to liability or embarrassment. Sixty of these destroyed documents were subsequently uncovered in British American Tobacco’s files.”
Tobacco Company Research Showed Smoking Hazard
Researchers from the universities of Waterloo and Toronto, as well as one from Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada, tracked down copies of studies carried out by British American Tobacco’s staff between 1967 and 1984. They were found at Imperial Tobacco’s headquarters in the United Kingdom.
There were 47 studies in all, of which 35 looked at the cancer-causing properties of tobacco smoke. The documents also contained research showing the addictive nature of nicotine.
The researchers quote one document as saying “... the present scale of the tobacco industry is largely dependent on the intensity and nature of the pharmacological action of nicotine,” and that “... should nicotine become less attractive to smokers, the future of the tobacco industry would become less secure.”
This and other material from the recovered files, says the research team, “demonstrates that British American Tobacco had collected evidence that cigarette smoke was carcinogenic and addictive.”
Big Tobacco Denied Smoking Harmful
The report published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) points out that even though tobacco companies had scientific evidence of the harmful effects of smoking, they continued to deny there was a problem.
There is a quote from the chairman of Imperial Tobacco Canada and the chair of the Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers Council, Jean-Louis Mercier, who gave testimony to a House of Commons committee in 1987. Mercier said, “It is not the position of the industry that tobacco causes any disease…The role, if any, that tobacco or smoking plays in the initiation and the development of these diseases is still very uncertain.”
In addition, Martin Broughton, the chief executive of British American Tobacco was quoted by The Observer (March 1, 1998) as stating, “We have not concealed, we do not conceal, and we will never conceal…We have no internal research which proves that smoking causes lung cancer or other diseases or, indeed, that smoking is addictive.”
Lives Might have been Saved if Evidence Made Public
Jill Mahoney, a Globe and Mail reporter, interviewed the lead author of the study (October 16, 2009). She quotes David Hammond, a professor in the University of Waterloo’s department of health studies, as saying:
“This evidence suggests that the industry wasn’t sharing absolutely critical findings about addiction and the health hazards. There’s real potential that if they had done so, we would have had laws that saved lives implemented much sooner.”
Provinces Suing Big Tobacco
The exposing of the hidden Imperial Tobacco research will likely play a role in lawsuits that are now underway.
The Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Ontario, and New Brunswick have sued the big tobacco companies in an attempt to recover the cost of treating people with smoking-related illness. Other provinces are likely to launch more lawsuits.
Joe Schneider, writing for Bloomberg.com says that Ontario is “seeking $50 billion from tobacco manufacturers…British Columbia was the first province to sue and is seeking unspecified damages, as is New Brunswick. Quebec has said it plans to sue and would likely seek about $30 billion…”
However, it will be years before the lawsuits are settled.
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