Years of scientific research and landmark litigation have provided a wealth of information about the dangers of smoking and the corporate tactics of the largest tobacco companies. It has become clear that Big Tobacco lied to the American people for decades, broke laws, and engaged in a blatant effort to attract children to its addicting and deadly products, while coughing up millions in campaign contributions and other political gifts to buy protection in legislative and regulatory arenas.
Their strategy has worked. For decades, a half dozen major tobacco companies purchased bogus science, manipulated public opinion and bought political protection, and they are hardly finished. The legal agreement between tobacco companies and the states’ Attorneys General has bought the industry time to repair the political and public relations damage caused by the litigation of the mid 1990s. Big Tobacco is back to investing in the political process to find new friends and strengthen ties with old ones. Moreover, it has increasingly turned its marketing attention to the nations of Eastern Europe, Asia and other parts of the developing world to expand its addicted customer base, largely by targeting children.
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For much more information about Big Tobacco and what you can do to fight them, download NYPIRG's e-book, Blowing Away the Smokescreen: The Case Against Big Tobacco.
