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ASH Daily News

7-9 December 2002

BAT wins appeal on smoker claim
Anti smoking agenda caused air pollution problem to be obscured
BAT chair named in The Economist top 100 people
War on fags
Secret bid to bail out F1 chiefs
$5m or I’ll poison your cigarettes


Full Text

BAT wins appeal on smoker claim

There is more coverage in late Friday and early Saturday editions of BAT
being granted a retrial in the Rolah McCabe case. McCabe, who died of lung
cancer in October aged 51, had been awarded £250,000 in damages after BAT’s
defence was struck out. This made her the first Australian smoker to
successfully sue an international tobacco company.
But late on Friday Victoria’s Court of Appeal ordered a fresh hearing after
being convinced by BAT lawyers that there was no case for finding the firm’s
solicitors were part of a conspiracy to destroy incriminating documents.
BAT spokesman John Galligan said the company had suffered considerable
damage to its reputation after the first case in April but hoped this latest
decision would allow the company to “put forth its side of the story.”
But the ruling is not necessarily the end of the matter. McCabe’s four
children said the family would now take the case to the High Court although
the absence of the plaintiff would be a complicating factor in any retrial.

Source: Financial Times, Evening Standard, The Times, The Independent, 6 & 7
December 2002.


Anti smoking agenda caused air pollution problem to be obscured

Air pollution and not smoking may cause about 4,000 deaths from lung cancer
in Britain each year, an air quality expert has warned.
A conference being held today to mark the 50th anniversary of the great
London smog alleges that a fear of political embarrassment led governments
of the fifties and sixties to cover up links between air pollution and
cancer.
New estimates suggest some 3,910 lung cancer deaths a year could be caused
by air pollution.
Apparently the Medical Research Council was planning to issue a statement in
1957 saying that although smoking was a significant cause of lung cancer, up
to 30% of cases might be caused by pollution.
But the committee was directed by government to reconsider and modify its
statement. The committee eventually published a paper that said air
pollution’s role in lung cancer was a relatively minor one in comparison to
cigarette smoking.

Source: Daily Telegraph, The Independent, The Guardian, 9 December 2002

See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,856358,00.html



BAT chair named in The Economist top 100 people

Martin Broughton, Chairman of British American Tobacco, is named in The
Economist’s list of Britain’s Top 100 people.

Source: The Times, 7 December 2002

The full list of the Top 100 can be found at:
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=1477687&CFID=4829
9&CFTOKEN=54ceb2a-52642869-69c2-4d97-b0d2-0228f17cb4ec




War on fags

In a four-page article The Star focuses on Government’s new measures to
tackle tobacco and health. Using images from Canada where “gruesome” photos
are already used to warn people off cigarettes, the paper explains how mild
or light branding will be stubbed out from next year, that £15m is being
devoted to hard hitting TV and poster campaigns and reflects on the new
Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act.
Welcoming the new warnings, Clive Bates, Director of ASH said: “At the
moment in Europe we have weedy messages on packs which blend into the
background and people just shut them out of their minds. But these [new]
warnings should be saving thousands of lives.”

Source: The Star, Sunday 8 December 2002



Secret bid to bail out F1 chiefs

The Express on Sunday claims that the government made a secret attempt to
delay an EU ban on tobacco advertising to help Formula One billionaire and
Labour donor Bernie Ecclestone.
The paper’s political editor points to a leaked document which suggests MPs
were misled by Alan Milburn as to why government voted against an EU
directive last week that would ban all tobacco advertising from 2005.
Talking in the Commons last Tuesday Mr Millburn said he had opposed the
directive because it was "not strong enough" or "clear enough".
But the leak shows British officials failed in their attempt to persuade
other EU health ministers to delay a ban on tobacco advertising for 14
months. The only amendment to the legislation tabled by British officials
urged the EU to delay the ad ban to specifically help Formula One motor
racing.
Lib Dem health spokesman Dr Evan Harris MP described the move as
“outrageous”. “The inescapable conclusion is that they continue to be
obsessed by the need to pay off old dues to their Formula One paymasters,”
he said.

Source: The Express on Sunday, 8 December 2002


$5m or I’ll poison your cigarettes

A blackmailer has threatened to inject deadly poison into British cigarettes
unless BAT deposits $5 million into two online bank accounts. Rothmans,
Benson and Hedges, Dunhill, Lucky Strike and John Player Special are all
targets in what the News of the World is calling “a sinister blackmail
plot.”
Police say they have called in the FBI to help with the investigation,
especially as it has similarities to another plot last year which targeted
Premiership footballers.

Source: News of the World, 8 December 2002




Marsha Williams
Project Manager
Action on Smoking and Health
Tel: 020 7739 5902
e-mail: marsha.williams@ash.org.uk
http://www.ash.org.uk