The internet will play a central role in health campaigners’ fight against thetobacco industry. ASH has today announced three web-based initiatives that mark anintensification of the use of the Web to hold the tobacco industry to account. ASH’ssite is at http://www.ash.org.uk

1. A survey of thousands of previously secret tobacco industry documents will bereleased as a web-based product. This is in the form of seven long chronolgies dealingwith: smoking and health, addiction, marketing to children, advertising, cigarette design,passive smoking and marketing in developing countries. In addition there is a compendiumof the best extracts combined with some analysis and background. The chronologies are onlyavailable on the Web, and the definitive version of the compendium will be held onthe Web, and updated periodically. The package is called TobaccoExplained: the truth about the tobacco industry ...in its own words and showsan extraordinary pattern deception, denial and obfuscation over the key facts andrealities surrounding tobacco.

Clive Bates, Director of ASH said: "We couldn’t really do this without theWeb, which is now our preferred publishing medium. Paper is too inflexible, and we cankeep the material up-to-date with easy national and international access through our site.I think it will be a great resource for people fighting the tobacco companies all over theworld - everyone from school-kids to European Commissioners will find something revealingand shocking in the material."

2. ASH is investing in database technology that will be used in forthcoming legalaction to hold document originals as TIFFs or PDFs. We intend to make documents availablethrough the web. We will be using the Concordance product, which has also been chosen bylawyers acting on behalf of 53 lung cancer victims suing the tobacco industry.

3. Later this year, ASH will be releasing a graphical and interactive front-end for the‘Tobacco Explained’ product which will be aimed at teenagers. This is part ofASH’s strategy of developing web-based information resources for use in schools andby teenagers.

ASH has an excellent partner in the Coronary Prevention Group, who manage the site.Ricky Greaves of CPG is the Webmaster: "The content on the ASH site is gettingstronger all the time and the site visits have increased dramatically since CPG startedmanaging the site for ASH in October. The look and feel we inherited still resemble theinside of a dole office, but we are planning a substantial makeover in the summer and thento seek sponsors for the site."