Memorandum by Gallaher Group Plc
THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY AND THE HEALTH RISKS
OF SMOKING (TB 8)
2. FOREWORD
2.1 The Health Committee of the UK House
of Commons is undertaking an inquiry into "The Tobacco Industry
and the Health Risks of Smoking". Its terms of reference
are:
"The Committee will examine what action
the tobacco industry has taken, and is currently taking, in response
to the scientific knowledge of the harmful effects of smoking
and the addictive nature of nicotine. It will also assess the
role of Government in providing consumer protection."
2.2 The Health Committee has requested written
evidence, separately, from each tobacco company with a base in
the United Kingdom ("UK"), including Gallaher, and the
trade association, the Tobacco Manufacturers' Association ("TMA").
Written submissions are to be made prior to the commencement of
a programme of oral evidence sessions.
2.3 Gallaher welcomes the opportunity to
participate in the inquiry and to provide written evidence to
the Health Committee. In this submission, as is apparent from
the index, Gallaher sets out, from its perspective, a summary
of the key events in the UK; the action that Gallaher has taken
in relation to those events; and an overview of the role of Government
over the years. Gallaher also provides a history of the public
awareness of the risks associated with smoking, which is relevant
to the role of Government in providing consumer protection.
2.4 In recent years, the history of tobacco
in the United States of America ("USA") has been the
subject of an intense focus. The environment surrounding the evolution
of the smoking and health issue in the USA is different from that
in the UK and Gallaher's response to events should not be assessed
by reference to the USA. Indeed, Gallaher does not manufacture
or sell tobacco products in the USA and has had no involvement
with the litigation which was commenced in the USA in the 1950s
and which continues to this day. That litigation has occurred
in a very different legal, social, political and economic environment.
2.5 Since the 1950s, in the UK, cigarettes
have comprised, by far, the largest percentage of sales of all
tobacco products. In 1998, it is estimated that cigarettes represented
approximately 93 per cent of all tobacco sales (by value) in the
UK. As a consequence, central to the smoking and health issue
have been the risks associated with cigarette smoking.
2.6 In Gallaher's view, the genesis of the
Health Committee's inquiry, which is concerned with events in
the UK, begins in the early 1950s. The history of events since
then is long and complex and has generated an enormous volume
of scientific knowledge. To illustrate the point, by 1970 in the
region of 14,500 medical and scientific papers were published
worldwide on tobacco and smoking and health related issues. Between
1970 and 1999 that volume of material has expanded enormously.
During this period, in the region of an additional 100,000 published
papers have been identified, using a Medline search alone.[1]
2.7 To place events in their proper perspective
and to understand better those events which were at the centre
of the issues that developed from the 1950s, it is necessary to
consider how knowledge was acquired and when techniques to modify
tobacco products were developed from a contemporary point of view.
The difficulties created by the benefit of hindsight cannot be
overestimated.
2.8 The scale of the issues that arose in
respect of smoking and health required Gallaher, along with the
other UK tobacco manufacturers, to co-operate with each other
and the public health bodies representing Government. That approach
resulted in a positive and voluntary response by Gallaher to these
issues.
2.9 Events central to smoking and health
began 30 or 40 years ago. Those in senior positions now within
Gallaher did not, however, hold senior positions in the 1950s
and 1960s; nor were they even with the company throughout this
period; those who were in senior positions during those years
have long since left Gallaher.
2.10 All smoking and health personal injury
claims that have been pursued against Gallaher have been successfully
defended, when tested in court, or otherwise resolved in Gallaher's
favour. Litigation continues, however, against Gallaher in the
UK and in Ireland.
2.11 Gallaher is independent of and in direct
competition with other tobacco manufacturers. Gallaher's response
to the issues that arose should be assessed by reference to its
own actions as opposed to broad brush generalisations about the
UK "tobacco industry" or, indeed, the public perception
of the conduct of any other tobacco manufacturer, whether located
in the UK or elsewhere.
1 10,000 published papers up to 1967, "Tobacco:
Experimental and Clinical Studies", P Larson (and others)
1961 and supplement in 1968; Medline search subsequently identified
4,574 (1966-69), 17,701 (1970-79), 32,660 (1980-89) and 54,585
(1990-99) published papers. Back
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