🌎 Resumen en español · traducción automática
Altria, una empresa tabacalera, ha realizado una donación reciente al Reino Unido como parte de una larga historia de "lavado de imagen" corporativo, según la científica Ellen Hahn. El artículo revela cómo las compañías tabacaleras utilizan universidades, organizaciones comunitarias y campañas de responsabilidad social para mejorar su imagen pública mientras ocultan datos sobre los daños a la salud de sus productos y desacreditan a científicos independientes. En Kentucky, casi el 20% de estudiantes de secundaria usan cigarrillos electrónicos y el 5% fuma, según datos de The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
Traducción y resumen generados por IA a partir del artículo en inglés. Puede contener errores; consulte el texto original.
In Kentucky, almost 20% of high school students use electronic cigarettes and 5% smoke, according to The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. (Getty Images)
In 1996, the Cigarette Papers was published, revealing how Kentucky’s Tobacco and Health Research Institute at the University of Kentucky presented itself as an independent arm of a publicly funded university, but in fact it was run by tobacco manufacturers and their highly paid lawyers. Although the purported goals of the institute were to conduct research on smoking and health, the tobacco industry, not independent scientists, engaged in evaluating the research and participated in developing public policy that favored the tobacco industry.
Over the past 30 years, scientists have used industry document research to verify the tactics used by the tobacco companies and other health-harming industries to disrupt public health. Using the industry’s own internal documents is a novel approach to understanding the corporate social responsibility playbook.
According to the playbook, it is common for tobacco companies to hide behind unwitting allies or front groups, like universities and community organizations, to improve their public image and garner goodwill. It is well-known that tobacco companies “capture knowledge” by suppressing scientific data on the health harms of their products or sponsoring research to tone down the harm. Commonly, the tobacco companies attack or discredit scientists who do not support the industry’s positions. As a scientist myself, I have experienced this tactic firsthand.
The tobacco companies continue to shape public narrative by building relationships with influential community leaders and using slick advertising and marketing campaigns to promote their products and downplay the dangerous health effects. They also indirectly promote tobacco products by sponsoring charitable causes, anti-health policy advocacy, disaster relief efforts, and youth efforts under the guise of “corporate responsibility” in exchange for good will.
There are many reasons why the tobacco companies invest so heavily in generating public good will. I name just a few. First, the tobacco industry was found guilty of lying to the American public about the deadly effects of tobacco products for more than 50 years, in the 2006 landmark decision in the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act lawsuit.
Second, the tobacco industry conspired to addict young people on nicotine leading to a class action lawsuit against Juul labs, contributing to a youth nicotine addiction crisis and debilitating health issues linked to vaping.
Third, the tobacco industry has targeted Black Americans for decades with aggressive and targeted marketing of menthol cigarettes such as saturating urban neighborhoods with billboards, sponsoring cultural events like jazz festivals (giving away free cigarettes), advertising in popular publications such as Ebony and Jet, and more recently on social media.
Many countries prohibit these unfair corporate social responsibility practices and debunk tobacco industry misinformation by signing on to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The United States should sign on to this important public health treaty.
Now, 30 years later, the tobacco industry is at it again. Altria’s recent $2 million gift to the University of Kentucky to create the Endowed Professor of Tobacco Growers Sustainability is intended to ‘strengthen academic and extension capacity in tobacco-growing communities.’ While the focus is on supporting faculty who, in turn, will help our tobacco growers, tobacco is no longer the dominant agricultural commodity it once was. Nearly all the Kentucky farms that once grew tobacco no longer do. Today, leading agricultural commodities include corn, soybeans, cattle, and poultry, and Kentucky’s agriculture and agribusiness contribute billions to Kentucky’s economy.
So why is Altria investing in tobacco growers now? Are they using the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture’s good reputation to boost their own credibility, influence public opinion, and soften perceptions? This is reminiscent of years prior to the tobacco buyout in the late 1990s and the Master Settlement Agreement in the early 2000s when tobacco was “king” in Kentucky. Since then, Kentucky has moved away from growing tobacco to diversify agriculture.
During this same time, Kentucky has witnessed countless successful local smoke-free campaigns even in some of the poorest rural counties in the country. These laws have led to dramatic reductions in new cases of lung cancer, preterm births, hospitalizations for emphysema and visits for asthma, lower indoor air pollution from tobacco smoke, and significant reductions in adult and youth smoking in communities with strong smoke-free laws. We have made slow, steady progress in lowering the harm caused by tobacco use and exposure to tobacco.
We now know that corporations harm people. In fact, five commercial products are responsible for nearly one-third of all deaths from chronic disease. Tobacco contributes to 7.2 million deaths per year globally (second only to the 8.1 million deaths from fossil fuels). The science is clear. Corporations are a well-known cause of disease. In fact, many universities have policies on taking money from health-harming industries. At the very least, universities need to create guardrails to disclose conflicts of interest and minimize harm from these corporations.
Don’t let Altria fool you. Their money and influence cannot hide the extraordinary toll that tobacco use has on Kentucky’s health and our economy.
