The Subtleties and Sophistication of Tobacco PR

This morning i opened up my daily Google Alert on Tobacco and happened to catch the headline, “Tobacco could help save lives, UC Davis team says”. Following up on this I read the press release concerning the UC Davis Big Bang business plan competition winners who had been awarded $15K for their proposal to use the tobacco plant as a source for vaccines. One of the members of the winning team is quoted, "I think this is an opportunity where tobacco can be used in a good sense."

Now this caught my eye for a couple of reasons. One is because I knew Davis, CA had a historical reputation for a tobacco free environment. In 1993 Davis had the only 100% smoke free policy in the nation and even today has extensive outdoor protections from secondhand smoke.

The second reason I was suspicious is because I knew that there was a bizarre use of Arkansas Master Settlement monies at the Arkansas Biosciences Institute. The MSA was the $246 billion settlement with the tobacco companies and the states for the harm caused by tobacco related disease. This has proven to have been a huge victory for the tobacco companies for the simple reason that nowhere in the agreement is it stipulated how this money is spent. Today states have only dedicated about 2.3% of MSA and tax revenue monies for tobacco control. Arkansans, however, stand alone with the Initiated Act 1 of 2000 dedicating their MSA payments toward primarily health related issues. Among these issues is the Arkansas Biosciences Institute created from 23% of the MSA to “focus on agriculture and basic and clinical scientific research that will lead to health improvement, especially in the area of tobacco-related diseases.” Now a state of the art research facility is a fantastic thing for a place like Arkansas. But early in 2004 Dr. Carole Cramer was hired as the Executive Director. Dr. Cramer’s expertise is the genetic engineering of the tobacco plant. This takes some mental agility to see that as an area of tobacco-related disease, but this is Arkansas.

So knowing of this tobacco industry coup and the smoke free distinction Davis enjoys I went to see just who could have influenced the Big Bang award. The major sponsor of the award is DLA Piper, a global law firm that represents anyone from the French gaming industry to, you guessed it, the tobacco industry. Arkansans may recall that DLA Piper senior Policy advisor Dick Armey recently came into the state to campaign against the proposed tobacco tax to fund our state's trauma system.

So now, is anyone else leery here?

The tobacco industry has a ready history of deceit and manipulation of public opinion toward tobacco and a degree of sophistication and cunning that almost baffles the imagination. This is just one more example.