Tobacco Institute

The Tobacco Institute, Inc. was a United States tobacco industry trade group, founded in 1958 by the American tobacco industry.cite book | last = Brandt | first = Allan M. | title = The Cigarette Century: the Rise, Fall and Deadly Persistence of the Product That Defined America | publisher = Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group | location = New York | year = 2007 | isbn = 9780465070473 ] Rp|251 [cite web |url=http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/09/21/tobacco.lawsuit/ |date=2004-09-21 |accessdate=2008-08-02 |title=Government lays out fraud case against Big Tobacco |publisher=CNN.com ] It was dissolved in 1998 as part of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement.cite paper
title = Master Settlement Agreement
publisher = National Association of Attorneys General
date = 1998
url = http://www.naag.org/backpages/naag/tobacco/msa/msa-pdf/1109185724_1032468605_cigmsa.pdf
format = PDF
accessdate = 2008-07-30] Rp|25

Founding

The Tobacco Institute was founded in 1958 as a trade organization by cigarette manufacturers, who funded it proportionally to each company's sales. It was initially to supplement the work of the Tobacco Industry Research Committee (which later became the Council for Tobacco Research). The TIRC work had been limited to attacking scientific studies that put tobacco in a bad light, and the Tobacco Institute had a broader mission to put out good news about tobacco, especially economic news. It also attacked scientific studies, although more by casting doubt on them rather than by rebutting them directly. It also lobbied Congress, although initially at a low level.

Activities

Lobbying and policy work

The Tobacco Institute collected intelligence on attitudes toward smoking, developed strategies, and lobbied legislators. Allan M. Brandt wrote, "The Tobacco Institute, on behalf of the companies, assembled an impressive record of derailing attempts to bring tobacco under any regulatory mandates whatsoever."Rp|276 By 1978 the Tobacco Institute has 70 lobbyists, and Senator Ted Kennedy said in 1979, "Dollar for dollar they're probably the most effective lobby on Capitol Hill."Rp|466

The Tobacco Institute hired the Roper Organization in 1978 to survey public attitudes on environmental tobacco smoke. [cite paper
last =
first =
author =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = A Study of Public Attitudes Toward Cigarette Smoking and the Tobacco Industry in 1978, v. I
version =
pages =
publisher = Roper Organization
date = May 1978
doi =
doi_brokendate =
id =
url = http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/jdc70a00
format =
accessdate = ] Rp|5Among its findings were "Nearly six out of ten believe that smoking is hazardous to the non-smoker's health, up sharply over the last four years. More than two-thirds of non-smokers believe it, nearly half of all smokers believe it. This we see as the most dangerous development to the viability of the tobacco industry that has yet occurred." A 1985 meeting of the Executive Committee of the Tobacco Institute outlined plans to broaden the indoor air quality issue. [cite paper
last = Kloepfer, Jr.
first = William
authorlink =
title = Report on Public Smoking Issue
publisher = Tobacco Institute
date = 1985-04-10
url = http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/owo03f00
accessdate = 2008-07-30] In December 1987 the Tobacco Institute's Executive Committee discussed creating an industry-based Center for Indoor Air Research, intended to broaden the question of indoor air pollution beyond tobacco smoke. The CIAR was created in March 1988 by Philip Morris, R. J. Reynolds, and Lorillard.Rp|293–294

In 1990 the Tobacco Institute opposed federal regulations banning smoking on domestic airline flights.Rp|305

Advertising

The Tobacco Institute ran advertisements and issued pamphlets for general readers. One advertisement consisted of facing two-page advertisements titled "A word to smokers (about nonsmokers and anti-smokers)" and "A word to nonsmokers (about smokers)." The ad encourages tolerance of smokers by depicting smoking as a "personal choice" and a "small ritual". There was no mention of any health effects. [cite web
url=http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/oji13f00
title= A word to smokers
accessdate= 2008-07-30
year= 1979-02-12
publisher= University of California at San Francisco, Legacy Tobacco Documents Library] An example pamphlet is "Answers to the Most Asked Questions about Cigarettes". [cite paper
title = Answers to the Most Asked Questions about Cigarettes
publisher = Tobacco Institute
date = 1982
url = http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/wir77c00
accessdate = 2008-07-30 ]

The institute also published newsletters aimed at physicians and dentists such as "Tobacco and Health" (OCLC|48549026) Rp|196 and a newsletter "Tobacco Observer" (OCLC|4556750) that seems to have been aimed at a general audience. Richard Kluger characterized "Tobacco Observer" as "attack literature."Rp|466

White papers

The Tobacco Institute published a large number of lengthy "white papers". Scanned copies of many of these are available in the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library. Many of these papers rebutted scientific reports critical of tobacco. The Tobacco Institute's response to such a report was rapid: a rebuttal was published [cite paper
title = Smoking and Health 1964–1979: The Continuing Controversy
publisher = Tobacco Institute
date = 1979-01-10
url = http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/bsv82f00
accessdate = 2008-07-30] to the 1979 Surgeon General's report on "Smoking and Health" one day before that report was issued. Another rebuttal [cite paper
title = Situation Report: Tobacco Smoke in the Air
publisher = Tobacco Institute
date = May 1985
url = http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/sgo86d00
accessdate = 2008-07-30 ] was issued to James Repace and Alfred Lowrey's report "A Quantitative Estimate of Nonsmokers' Lung Cancer Risk."

A press release from the Tobacco Institute attacked the 1986 Surgeon General's report on second-hand smoke, [cite book
title=The health consequences of involuntary smoking: a report of the Surgeon General
origyear=1986
publisher=U. S. Government Printing Office
oclc=14990774] saying that the Surgeon General had distorted the evidence and that Health and Human Services was suppressing contrary scientific viewpoints. [cite press release
title = Government Health Officials Involved in Efforts to Censor Dissenting Scientific Viewpoints; Tobacco Institute Demands Cabinet-Level Investigation; Accuses Officials of Abusing Science for Political Ends
publisher = Tobacco Institute
date = 1986-12-11
format =
language =
url = http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/btw19e00
accessdate = 2008-07-30
quote = ] There was also a longer rebuttal paper. [cite paper
title = Tobacco Smoke and the Nonsmoker: Scientific Integrity at the Crossroads
publisher = Tobacco Institute
date = 1986
url = http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/lrp90c00
accessdate = 2008-07-30]

The Tobacco Institute criticized the EPA's 1993 report declaring tobacco smoke to be a Class A human carcinogen.Rp|306

tealthy techniques

In at least one case the Tobacco Institute paid for an article to be written and placed in a major national magazine while keeping their involvement secret. The article, "To Smoke or Not to Smoke—That is still the Question" [cite journal
quotes =
last = Frank
first = Stanley
authorlink =
year = 1968
month = January
title = To Smoke or Not to Smoke—That is Still the Question
journal = True
pages =
url = http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/ydv08c00
accessdate = 2008-07-30 ] by Stanley Frank was published in the January 1968 issue of "True" magazine. Frank was paid $500 by Brown & Williamson to write the article,] Rp|180and the Tobacco Institute paid $500,000 to Rosser Reeves to publicize the article and distribute one million copies of it.Rp|264-265 The story of the Tobacco Institute's involvement was uncovered and published by "Consumer Reports". [cite journal
year = 1968
month = June
title = The truth about...True's Article on Smoking
journal = Consumer Reports
pages = 336–339
url = http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/cgv82f00
accessdate = 2008-08-01 ]

Demise

By the 1990s the Tobacco Institute has lost its preeminent role in tobacco lobbying to the market leader, Philip Morris, but continued to gather intelligence on anti-smoking sentiment and legislative actions.Rp|684

In 1998, as part of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, the Tobacco Institute, the Center for Indoor Air Research, and the Council for Tobacco Research were dissolved.Rp|25

References