Remember the companies survived untouched after the major health reports of the early 1960s. Until the end of the century they were still denying that smoking was addictive although their internal reports in the 1950s showed that they understood that then.

According to Allan Brandt’s book, the architect of tobacco’s PR strategies in the 1950s was John Hill, of powerful PR firm Hill & Knowlton. H&K was a defendant in many tobacco suits, alongside PMI.

p.166: “He had quit smoking in the early 1940s for health reasons…”

re: Business Week: it’s nice to hear Camilleri is being socially responsible. It’s hard to believe any cigarette company exec is unaware that they must addcit children, nto adults, since the latter can quit.

1) I assume you were the hc in disuccsion at johnquiggin, so I won’t repeat that.

2) But I’d add:
Teen brain changes increase cigarette addiction from NewScientist in 2003.

And a direct pointer to that fine RJR product Twista Lime.

and WHO on youth smoking, which offers a nice quote from a 1981 PMI memo.

3) For anyone who wants a fine history, Allan M. Brandt’s “The Cigarette Century”.

4) And there’s a subtle connection with AGW, via ,a href=”http://www.who.int/tobacco/statistics/tobacco_atlas/en/”>WHO on tobacco, i.e., deforesatration. Note that besides cutting trees for space to grow tobacco in some places, wood is sometimes used to cure the tobacco.

As of that chart, Indonesia was #7 in tobacco production.