Subject: "SPIES" & WHO, Daily Express 3/8/00], (Dean)..
Date: Thu, 03 Aug 2000 051810 -0500
From: Roy Beavers
To: Roy Beavers
--------------------------------------------------
..........Margaret Dean has forwarded a report from the
London Daily Express which
describes the activities of the tobacco in
**subverting** the efforts of WHO (World
Health Organization) to reduce smoking exposure
worldwide..... If one thinks the
other major industries (particularly the global
conglomerate corporations, like
Monsanto, Motorola, Mobile oil, etc.) have not been
aware of the **success** of the
tobacco industry -- then "one" must be naive,
indeed..... In Washington, "Envy," at the success of
the tobacco industry in "getting away with murder" has
long been a defining part of the political culture
there.... We should not be surprised to learn that
Motorola, for example, has formed a CIA-like internal
"spy and infiltrate"
department.....
........Guru repeats: WHO shold MAKE PUBLIC "all" the
sources of income of its
staff ... to preclude the following example being
emulated by the telecom indstry......guru.......
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: "SPIES" & WHO Daily Express 3/8/00
Date: Thu, 3 Aug 2000 05:38:51 EDT
From: DEANBT29@aol.com
To: guru@emfguru.com
The cigarette conspiracy
TOBACCO companies paid "spies" to infiltrate the World
Health Organisation in
an elaborate plot to undermine the global anti-smoking
drive, it was claimed
yesterday.
In an astonishing 240-page report commissioned by WHO,
tobacco firms were
accused of having caused "significant harm" to the work
of the international
health agency.
The cigarette makers view WHO as "one of their foremost
enemies". They are
said to have fought its campaign to curb smoking by
trying to get its budget
cut, pitting other UN agencies against it, and hiring
experts to distort the
results of important scientific studies on tobacco.
The report also claims that tobacco firms secretly
placed their own
"consultants" at the Geneva-based WHO to monitor the
agency's anti-smoking
activities, paying them to spy on meetings and obtain
confidential documents.
"The attempted subversion has been elaborate,
well-financed, sophisticated
and usually invisible," said the report written by a
committee led by Thomas
Zeltner, director of the Swiss Federal Office of Public
Health.
It added: "That top executives of tobacco companies sat
together to design
and set in motion elaborate strategies to subvert a
public health
organisation is unacceptable and must be condemned."
The revelations did little to improve the image of an
industry which is
fighting against paying multi-billion pound damages for
deliberately covering
up evidence of the health hazards and addictiveness of
cigarettes.
Much of this new report seeks to document the
industry's efforts to undermine
WHO anti-tobacco activities in the developing world.
In particular, it accuses the industry of working to
convince the UN Food and
Agriculture Organisation that poor nations should not
back anti-smoking
efforts because tobacco is such a potentially lucrative
cash crop.
In addition, the report cites industry attempts to
portray tobacco control
efforts as a First World concern that Third World
nations should ignore.
Philip Morris, the world's largest tobacco firm,
admitted yesterday it had
paid scientists to attend WHO meetings to which it, as
a firm, had been
denied access during the late Eighties and early
Nineties.
"It is true that we had scientists retained by us to
secure information,"
confessed David Davies, vice-president of the EU region
of Philip Morris
International in Lausanne, Switzerland, stressing that
it was a practice no
longer continued. But he insisted: "There is nothing in
the report to suggest
there was anything improper that occurred in relation
to those activities
and, certainly, nothing which in any sense influenced
or undermined the
activities of the WHO."
Mr Zeltner and his committee of independent experts
reviewed thousands of
tobacco industry documents from among some 30 million
made public in a case
by the state of Minnesota against the industry.
That case focused on the activities of Philip Morris,
British American
Tobacco, RJ Reynolds, Brown and Williamson, American
Tobacco Company,
Lorillard Tobacco Company, the Tobacco Institute and
the Council for Tobacco
Research. It resulted in companies being ordered to pay
out £4.4billion.
WHO has made the fight against smoking a top priority,
estimating that
tobacco kills more than four million people a year and
warning that the toll
may rise to 10 million a year by 2030 because of
surging use in developing
countries. The report found that tobacco companies
often covered up their
role, for example, by secretly funding "independent"
experts to conduct
research, appear at conferences and lobby WHO
scientists with the intention
of distorting, discrediting or influencing studies.
"The tobacco companies hid behind a variety of
ostensibly independent
quasi-academic, public policy and business
organisations whose tobacco
industry funding was not disclosed," the experts
said.Derek Yach, head of
WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative, said that as a result of
efforts to undermine
the agency's drive there were now probably
"substantially more smokers and
substantially more deaths".
© Express Newspapers, 2000
The cigarette conspiracy
TOBACCO companies paid "spies" to infiltrate the World
Health Organisation in
an elaborate plot to undermine the global anti-smoking
drive, it was claimed
yesterday.
In an astonishing 240-page report commissioned by WHO,
tobacco firms were
accused of having caused "significant harm" to the work
of the international
health agency.
The cigarette makers view WHO as "one of their foremost
enemies". They are
said to have fought its campaign to curb smoking by
trying to get its budget
cut, pitting other UN agencies against it, and hiring
experts to distort the
results of important scientific studies on tobacco.
The report also claims that tobacco firms secretly
placed their own
"consultants" at the Geneva-based WHO to monitor the
agency's anti-smoking
activities, paying them to spy on meetings and obtain
confidential documents.
"The attempted subversion has been elaborate,
well-financed, sophisticated
and usually invisible," said the report written by a
committee led by Thomas
Zeltner, director of the Swiss Federal Office of Public
Health.
It added: "That top executives of tobacco companies sat
together to design
and set in motion elaborate strategies to subvert a
public health
organisation is unacceptable and must be condemned."
The revelations did little to improve the image of an
industry which is
fighting against paying multi-billion pound damages for
deliberately covering
up evidence of the health hazards and addictiveness of
cigarettes.
Much of this new report seeks to document the
industry's efforts to undermine
WHO anti-tobacco activities in the developing world.
In particular, it accuses the industry of working to
convince the UN Food and
Agriculture Organisation that poor nations should not
back anti-smoking
efforts because tobacco is such a potentially lucrative
cash crop.
In addition, the report cites industry attempts to
portray tobacco control
efforts as a First World concern that Third World
nations should ignore.
Philip Morris, the world's largest tobacco firm,
admitted yesterday it had
paid scientists to attend WHO meetings to which it, as
a firm, had been
denied access during the late Eighties and early
Nineties.
"It is true that we had scientists retained by us to
secure information,"
confessed David Davies, vice-president of the EU region
of Philip Morris
International in Lausanne, Switzerland, stressing that
it was a practice no
longer continued. But he insisted: "There is nothing in
the report to suggest
there was anything improper that occurred in relation
to those activities
and, certainly, nothing which in any sense influenced
or undermined the
activities of the WHO."
Mr Zeltner and his committee of independent experts
reviewed thousands of
tobacco industry documents from among some 30 million
made public in a case
by the state of Minnesota against the industry.
That case focused on the activities of Philip Morris,
British American
Tobacco, RJ Reynolds, Brown and Williamson, American
Tobacco Company,
Lorillard Tobacco Company, the Tobacco Institute and
the Council for Tobacco
Research. It resulted in companies being ordered to pay
out £4.4billion.
WHO has made the fight against smoking a top priority,
estimating that
tobacco kills more than four million people a year and
warning that the toll
may rise to 10 million a year by 2030 because of
surging use in developing
countries. The report found that tobacco companies
often covered up their
role, for example, by secretly funding "independent"
experts to conduct
research, appear at conferences and lobby WHO
scientists with the intention
of distorting, discrediting or influencing studies.
"The tobacco companies hid behind a variety of
ostensibly independent
quasi-academic, public policy and business
organisations whose tobacco
industry funding was not disclosed," the experts
said.Derek Yach, head of
WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative, said that as a result of
efforts to undermine
the agency's drive there were now probably
"substantially more smokers and
substantially more deaths".
© Express Newspapers, 2000
The cigarette conspiracy
TOBACCO companies paid "spies" to infiltrate the World
Health Organisation in
an elaborate plot to undermine the global anti-smoking
drive, it was claimed
yesterday.
In an astonishing 240-page report commissioned by WHO,
tobacco firms were
accused of having caused "significant harm" to the work
of the international
health agency.
The cigarette makers view WHO as "one of their foremost
enemies". They are
said to have fought its campaign to curb smoking by
trying to get its budget
cut, pitting other UN agencies against it, and hiring
experts to distort the
results of important scientific studies on tobacco.
The report also claims that tobacco firms secretly
placed their own
"consultants" at the Geneva-based WHO to monitor the
agency's anti-smoking
activities, paying them to spy on meetings and obtain
confidential documents.
"The attempted subversion has been elaborate,
well-financed, sophisticated
and usually invisible," said the report written by a
committee led by Thomas
Zeltner, director of the Swiss Federal Office of Public
Health.
It added: "That top executives of tobacco companies sat
together to design
and set in motion elaborate strategies to subvert a
public health
organisation is unacceptable and must be condemned."
The revelations did little to improve the image of an
industry which is
fighting against paying multi-billion pound damages for
deliberately covering
up evidence of the health hazards and addictiveness of
cigarettes.
Much of this new report seeks to document the
industry's efforts to undermine
WHO anti-tobacco activities in the developing world.
In particular, it accuses the industry of working to
convince the UN Food and
Agriculture Organisation that poor nations should not
back anti-smoking
efforts because tobacco is such a potentially lucrative
cash crop.
In addition, the report cites industry attempts to
portray tobacco control
efforts as a First World concern that Third World
nations should ignore.
Philip Morris, the world's largest tobacco firm,
admitted yesterday it had
paid scientists to attend WHO meetings to which it, as
a firm, had been
denied access during the late Eighties and early
Nineties.
"It is true that we had scientists retained by us to
secure information,"
confessed David Davies, vice-president of the EU region
of Philip Morris
International in Lausanne, Switzerland, stressing that
it was a practice no
longer continued. But he insisted: "There is nothing in
the report to suggest
there was anything improper that occurred in relation
to those activities
and, certainly, nothing which in any sense influenced
or undermined the
activities of the WHO."
Mr Zeltner and his committee of independent experts
reviewed thousands of
tobacco industry documents from among some 30 million
made public in a case
by the state of Minnesota against the industry.
That case focused on the activities of Philip Morris,
British American
Tobacco, RJ Reynolds, Brown and Williamson, American
Tobacco Company,
Lorillard Tobacco Company, the Tobacco Institute and
the Council for Tobacco
Research. It resulted in companies being ordered to pay
out £4.4billion.
WHO has made the fight against smoking a top priority,
estimating that
tobacco kills more than four million people a year and
warning that the toll
may rise to 10 million a year by 2030 because of
surging use in developing
countries. The report found that tobacco companies
often covered up their
role, for example, by secretly funding "independent"
experts to conduct
research, appear at conferences and lobby WHO
scientists with the intention
of distorting, discrediting or influencing studies.
"The tobacco companies hid behind a variety of
ostensibly independent
quasi-academic, public policy and business
organisations whose tobacco
industry funding was not disclosed," the experts
said.Derek Yach, head of
WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative, said that as a result of
efforts to undermine
the agency's drive there were now probably
"substantially more smokers and
substantially more deaths".
© Express Newspapers, 2000
The cigarette conspiracy
TOBACCO companies paid "spies" to infiltrate the World
Health Organisation in
an elaborate plot to undermine the global anti-smoking
drive, it was claimed
yesterday.
In an astonishing 240-page report commissioned by WHO,
tobacco firms were
accused of having caused "significant harm" to the work
of the international
health agency.
The cigarette makers view WHO as "one of their foremost
enemies". They are
said to have fought its campaign to curb smoking by
trying to get its budget
cut, pitting other UN agencies against it, and hiring
experts to distort the
results of important scientific studies on tobacco.
The report also claims that tobacco firms secretly
placed their own
"consultants" at the Geneva-based WHO to monitor the
agency's anti-smoking
activities, paying them to spy on meetings and obtain
confidential documents.
"The attempted subversion has been elaborate,
well-financed, sophisticated
and usually invisible," said the report written by a
committee led by Thomas
Zeltner, director of the Swiss Federal Office of Public
Health.
It added: "That top executives of tobacco companies sat
together to design
and set in motion elaborate strategies to subvert a
public health
organisation is unacceptable and must be condemned."
The revelations did little to improve the image of an
industry which is
fighting against paying multi-billion pound damages for
deliberately covering
up evidence of the health hazards and addictiveness of
cigarettes.
Much of this new report seeks to document the
industry's efforts to undermine
WHO anti-tobacco activities in the developing world.
In particular, it accuses the industry of working to
convince the UN Food and
Agriculture Organisation that poor nations should not
back anti-smoking
efforts because tobacco is such a potentially lucrative
cash crop.
In addition, the report cites industry attempts to
portray tobacco control
efforts as a First World concern that Third World
nations should ignore.
Philip Morris, the world's largest tobacco firm,
admitted yesterday it had
paid scientists to attend WHO meetings to which it, as
a firm, had been
denied access during the late Eighties and early
Nineties.
"It is true that we had scientists retained by us to
secure information,"
confessed David Davies, vice-president of the EU region
of Philip Morris
International in Lausanne, Switzerland, stressing that
it was a practice no
longer continued. But he insisted: "There is nothing in
the report to suggest
there was anything improper that occurred in relation
to those activities
and, certainly, nothing which in any sense influenced
or undermined the
activities of the WHO."
Mr Zeltner and his committee of independent experts
reviewed thousands of
tobacco industry documents from among some 30 million
made public in a case
by the state of Minnesota against the industry.
That case focused on the activities of Philip Morris,
British American
Tobacco, RJ Reynolds, Brown and Williamson, American
Tobacco Company,
Lorillard Tobacco Company, the Tobacco Institute and
the Council for Tobacco
Research. It resulted in companies being ordered to pay
out £4.4billion.
WHO has made the fight against smoking a top priority,
estimating that
tobacco kills more than four million people a year and
warning that the toll
may rise to 10 million a year by 2030 because of
surging use in developing
countries. The report found that tobacco companies
often covered up their
role, for example, by secretly funding "independent"
experts to conduct
research, appear at conferences and lobby WHO
scientists with the intention
of distorting, discrediting or influencing studies.
"The tobacco companies hid behind a variety of
ostensibly independent
quasi-academic, public policy and business
organisations whose tobacco
industry funding was not disclosed," the experts
said.Derek Yach, head of
WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative, said that as a result of
efforts to undermine
the agency's drive there were now probably
"substantially more smokers and
substantially more deaths".
© Express Newspapers, 2000
The cigarette conspiracy
TOBACCO companies paid "spies" to infiltrate the World
Health Organisation in
an elaborate plot to undermine the global anti-smoking
drive, it was claimed
yesterday.
In an astonishing 240-page report commissioned by WHO,
tobacco firms were
accused of having caused "significant harm" to the work
of the international
health agency.
The cigarette makers view WHO as "one of their foremost
enemies". They are
said to have fought its campaign to curb smoking by
trying to get its budget
cut, pitting other UN agencies against it, and hiring
experts to distort the
results of important scientific studies on tobacco.
The report also claims that tobacco firms secretly
placed their own
"consultants" at the Geneva-based WHO to monitor the
agency's anti-smoking
activities, paying them to spy on meetings and obtain
confidential documents.
"The attempted subversion has been elaborate,
well-financed, sophisticated
and usually invisible," said the report written by a
committee led by Thomas
Zeltner, director of the Swiss Federal Office of Public
Health.
It added: "That top executives of tobacco companies sat
together to design
and set in motion elaborate strategies to subvert a
public health
organisation is unacceptable and must be condemned."
The revelations did little to improve the image of an
industry which is
fighting against paying multi-billion pound damages for
deliberately covering
up evidence of the health hazards and addictiveness of
cigarettes.
Much of this new report seeks to document the
industry's efforts to undermine
WHO anti-tobacco activities in the developing world.
In particular, it accuses the industry of working to
convince the UN Food and
Agriculture Organisation that poor nations should not
back anti-smoking
efforts because tobacco is such a potentially lucrative
cash crop.
In addition, the report cites industry attempts to
portray tobacco control
efforts as a First World concern that Third World
nations should ignore.
Philip Morris, the world's largest tobacco firm,
admitted yesterday it had
paid scientists to attend WHO meetings to which it, as
a firm, had been
denied access during the late Eighties and early
Nineties.
"It is true that we had scientists retained by us to
secure information,"
confessed David Davies, vice-president of the EU region
of Philip Morris
International in Lausanne, Switzerland, stressing that
it was a practice no
longer continued. But he insisted: "There is nothing in
the report to suggest
there was anything improper that occurred in relation
to those activities
and, certainly, nothing which in any sense influenced
or undermined the
activities of the WHO."
Mr Zeltner and his committee of independent experts
reviewed thousands of
tobacco industry documents from among some 30 million
made public in a case
by the state of Minnesota against the industry.
That case focused on the activities of Philip Morris,
British American
Tobacco, RJ Reynolds, Brown and Williamson, American
Tobacco Company,
Lorillard Tobacco Company, the Tobacco Institute and
the Council for Tobacco
Research. It resulted in companies being ordered to pay
out £4.4billion.
WHO has made the fight against smoking a top priority,
estimating that
tobacco kills more than four million people a year and
warning that the toll
may rise to 10 million a year by 2030 because of
surging use in developing
countries. The report found that tobacco companies
often covered up their
role, for example, by secretly funding "independent"
experts to conduct
research, appear at conferences and lobby WHO
scientists with the intention
of distorting, discrediting or influencing studies.
"The tobacco companies hid behind a variety of
ostensibly independent
quasi-academic, public policy and business
organisations whose tobacco
industry funding was not disclosed," the experts
said.Derek Yach, head of
WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative, said that as a result of
efforts to undermine
the agency's drive there were now probably
"substantially more smokers and
substantially more deaths".
© Express Newspapers, 2000
Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.emfguru.com