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- Info
0421tobacco
press release
ash, christian aid and friends of the
earth
the least responsible company in the
world?
british american tobacco slammed in major
new report
London (UK), April 21, 2004 -- British
American Tobacco has been slammed for its
appalling health, environmental and
development record in advance of its AGM
today.
A new report – “BAT's Big Wheeze” - has been
published by health campaign group Action on
Smoking and Health (ASH), leading development
charity Christian Aid, and the environmental
pressure group Friends of the Earth. The
report is also backed by NGOs from countries
damaged by BAT's bad business behaviour. (A
full copy of the report can be downloaded
from
http://www.ash.org.uk/html/conduct/pdfs/batbigwheeze.pdf
)
The report looks at BAT's record in Britain
, Brazil , Kenya , Nigeria , Pakistan ,
Russia and Uganda . It accuses BAT of:
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Making tobacco products which cause
about 750,000 premature deaths around the
world every year. Five million people die
from smoking in the world each year. BAT
has a 15% share of the total tobacco market
and sells 792 billion cigarettes a year
under more than 300 brand names. By the
year 2020 the number of deaths from smoking
is expected to double to ten million. Seven
million of these will be in developing
countries where health services are already
under-resourced and over-stretched.
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Damaging the health of rural
communities in Brazil and Kenya through
encouraging the use of dangerous
pesticides, in many cases without proper
protection.
-
Exploiting tobacco growers in Nigeria ,
through high prices for loaned materials
and low prices for their products.
-
Flooding Pakistan and Russia with
advertising and sponsorship designed to
addict a new generation of young people to
cigarettes
-
Encouraging forest destruction in
Uganda , through heavy use of dry wood to
cure processed tobacco.
The report also reveals how BAT recently
faced legal action in the US for money
laundering and racketeering, and how in
Australia it was recently found guilty of
document shredding. BAT also continues to lie
about the health effects of cigarette smoke,
for example claiming that “there is no
convincing evidence that ETS (environmental
tobacco smoke) exposure genuinely increases
the risk of non-smokers developing lung
cancer or heart disease”.
Meanwhile BAT has reported operating profits
for 2003 of £2.8 billion. BAT directors are
paid huge sums for their activities: Chief
Executive Officer Martin Broughton receives
£2.4 million a year, and top Tory politician
Kenneth Clarke MP is paid £125,000 a year for
chairing the company's committee on Corporate
Social Responsibility, and for other duties
including helping to develop new markets in
countries such as Vietnam . Mr Broughton
claims that “corporate social responsibility
is integral to our approach to the management
of our business globally”, a claim the report
describes as “greenwash, bluewash, and
hogwash”. Mr Clarke claims that “BAT is not
about window dressing”, but the report states
that “in Nigeria, Uganda, Pakistan, Kenya,
Brazil and Russia, BAT advertises itself as a
good corporate citizen, while aggressively
marketing its cigarettes to the youth and
female market, failing to look after its
farmers and failing in its environmental
stewardship responsibility. BAT … persists in
spending huge amounts on public relations
while failing its basic responsibilities to
society and the environment.”
The report quotes experts and campaigners
from around the world, who condemn BAT for
its business practices. Dr Margaret
Mungherera, President of the Uganda Medical
Association says:
“One thing I'd say to BAT shareholders is,
it is a pity they can sit there and gain
enormous economic benefits while BAT is
selling cigarettes that are killing so many
people”.
Akinbode Oluwafeme of Friends of the Earth
Nigeria says that: • “BAT shouldn't come to
Nigeria and do what it can't do in the UK .
We don't want this tobacco company to come
here and addict our children so that its
shareholders will have more dividends.”
Dr Vladimir Levshin of the Russian Cancer
Research Centre says that:
“Despite the enormous human toll caused by
tobacco, the efforts to control it are an
uphill battle in Russia , with tiny groups of
people challenging enormous corporate
interests, with minimal or no interest from
Government.”
Professor Peter Odhiambo of Kenya 's
National Tobacco Free Initiative Committee
says that:
“Multinationals are lethal, unethical and
corrupting … they think they can arm twist
Third World governments with threats of
labour unrest and loss of revenue”.
Allah Rakha, a 13 year old who lives in
Islamabad , Pakistan , has now been smoking
for nearly a year. He says that:
“I started to smoke because the ads show the
hero to be so powerful and clever that he
saves all his friends. I wish I could be one
like him.”
The report demands that the UK Government
should change the law to require companies
and their directors to take account of social
and environmental issues in all their
activities. A new law on corporate
accountability would require BAT to report on
the negative impacts of their activities and
products around the world, place legal duties
on directors to take all reasonable steps to
reduce these impacts, and enable affected
communities abroad to seek compensation for
health damage, human rights violations and
environmental impacts in the UK courts.
Deborah Arnott, Director of ASH, Dr Daleep
Mukarji, Director of Christian Aid, Tony
Juniper, Director of Friends of the Earth,
comment in the introduction to the report
that:
“While genuine moves by UK companies to
improve their social and environmental
standards are welcome, the difference between
the claims BAT makes in its social reports
and its true impacts are stark… The bitter
truth is that BAT is one of the least
socially responsible companies in the
world”.
for more information
contact:
Ian Willmore (ASH) +44-20 7739 5902 (w)
+44-7887641344 (m)
Andrew Pendleton (Christian Aid) +44-20 7620
4444 (w) +44-7720 813865 (m)
Craig Bennett (Friends of the Earth) +44-20
7566 1667 (w) +44-7720 147280 (m)
Contact details also available for:
Friends of the earth Nigeria,
Journalist Action for Tobacco Control
(Nigeria),
Department of Rural Socioeconomic Studies
(Curitiba-PR, Brazil),
SocialNEEDS Network (Kenya),
the Network for Consumer Protection
(Pakistan)
and the Russian Cancer Research Center.
- ISDN line available –
see
www.foe.co.uk
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