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ASH Daily News

Tuesday 2 November 1999

Headlines
B&W renew attack on whistleblower and criticise Disney corporation
Hungary bans smoking in public places
China will become a nation of ‘tobacco widows’
BAA still suffering from duty-free PR disaster
Philip Morris insiders sell shares to reduce losses
Trials of air cleaning equipment in pubs


Full Text

B&W renew attack on whistleblower and criticise Disney corporation

BAT’s American subsidiary, Brown and Williamson, has renewed a
campaign attacking the credibility of whistle-blower Jeffrey Wigand,
days before the release of the film “Insider”, which is based on his
expose of the wrong-doings of the company. Brown and Williamson has
distributed copies of an affadavit in which an agent for the FBI said
there was “probable cause” to believe that Mr Wigand was involved in
planting a threatening letter and a bullet in his own mailbox in 1996.
The tobacco company also called on Walt Disney to “cease from falsely
and maliciously portraying Brown and Williamson as threatening Wigand”
. A Disney spokeswoman said: “We are surprised at the lengths to
which Brown and Williamson will go to keep the public from seeing our
movie”, adding that the company had “materially distorted the truth”
in its news release.

Source: Wall Street Journal, The Times 2/11/99


Hungary bans smoking in public places

A new law banning smoking in many public places went into force in
Hungary yesterday. Employers have until next week to designate
smoking areas. The law also prohibits children under 18 from buying
cigarettes. A spokesman for Philip Morris said: “We anticipate a loss
of 200 million to 400 million forints as a result of this.” Fines
for selling cigarettes to minors start at 30,000 forints – about
two-thirds the national average monthly wage.

Source: Wall St Journal Europe, 2/11/99

China will become a nation of ‘tobacco widows’

A moving account of the personal suffering caused by smoking-induced
lung cancer in one of China’s millions of smokers is reported in the
International Herald Tribune. The article notes that one in every
eight male deaths is already caused by smoking, a ratio that is
expected to rise to 1 in 3 by the year 2050. The country is facing a
society of tobacco widows, since just one per cent of Chinese women
smoke. A Chinese oncologist said the tragedy would be difficult to
avoid because the Chinese people found it hard to accept that smoking
causes life-threatening diseases.

Source: International Herald Tribune, 2/11/99


BAA still suffering from duty-free PR disaster

The British Airports Authority has admitted that the fiasco over the
handling of the abolition of duty free sales has reduced their profit
margins by more than £60m. Revealing first-half years results, the
new chief executive Mike Hodgkinson said: “There is still a lot of
confusion in the minds of travellers but the actions we have taken are
beginning to show some positive signs.” He added: “In the early
days, a lot of customers thought it was illegal even to go into duty
free shops if they were travelling within the EU.”

Source: Evening Standard, 1/11/99, The Sun 2/11/99


Philip Morris insiders sell shares to reduce losses

A report in the BMJ notes that Philip Morris executives may have
predicted the steep fall in share prices following the Florida lawsuit
ruling in favour of lump sum punitive damages. Between 16 and 31
August, eight PM executives disposed of over 750,000 shares of Philip
Morris stock. Their decision to sell may have saved them millions of
dollars as the share price fell as low as $21.25 after the latest
court ruling. According to tobacco liability expert, Professor
Richard Daynard, “This downturn in stock prices is different from the
usual ups and downs because the investment community finally
understands that bankruptcy for the tobacco companies - including
Philip Morris, the biggest of them all - is a real possibility.”

Source: BMJ 30/10/99 p1153


Trials of air cleaning equipment in pubs

Licensee reports on the testing of a new range of air cleaning units
which have shown major differences in performance with regard to
removing tobacco smoke from the atmosphere. A spokesman for the trade
group, Atmosphere Improves Results, said the results from the 11
companies involved in the trials demonstrated that tobacco smoke can
be removed from air and would provide useful information to publicans
and pub equipment purchasers.

Source: Licensee, 1/11/9



Karl Brookes
Project Manager
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