![]()
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Directly
eroding tobacco industry power as a tobacco control strategy: lessons for New
Zealand?
George Thomson, Nick Wilson
Until the 1990s, tobacco control in many countries tended to
concentrate on smoking behaviour or on protecting non-smokers, as shown by the
predominance of the particular interventions used.1 Except for some notable
exceptions,2–4 attention to the control of the tobacco industry was
largely limited in scope and not a particular goal in itself. Because of complex
factors in different jurisdictions,5–7 a perspective began to emerge that
saw the direct erosion of industry power as an equally important part of a
comprehensive tobacco control strategy.8 In part, the move was towards seeing
the industry as the problem,9 rather than the addicted smoker.
This article examines some recent (post-1997) tobacco
control policies that seek to directly erode
industry power, in contrast to those that concentrate on smoking
behaviour or on protecting non-smokers. ‘Directly eroding industry
power’ is defined as directly controlling tobacco companies’ ability
to operate, to hide and to obscure their behaviour, and their ability to neglect
the externalities of their products and escape responsibility for them.
In contrast, changing smoking behaviour can
indirectly reduce industry power by
reducing their profits. The approaches that directly erode industry power
include requiring health warnings; promotion and marketing bans; disclosure and
fire safety requirements; inquiries into the industry; limits on associations
with the industry; government litigation against the industry; and mass media
campaigns with anti-industry themes. New Zealand has already partly utilised the
first two of these approaches.
This definition is not meant to be exhaustive, with other
policies also contributing to the erosion of industry power. Many policies (such
as warnings and advertising bans) will both erode industry power
and influence smoking or protect
non-smokers. There is extensive evidence of the tobacco industry’s
marketing and political activity as determinants of both smoking and tobacco
control policies.10–12
The term ‘denormalisation’ is sometimes used for
some parts of strategies that aim to directly erode tobacco industry power.
However, when referring to the tobacco industry, the term is generally used to
mean ‘making the industry appear less legitimate to the public’. Our
aim is to examine a far wider range of policy options around eroding tobacco
industry power.
MethodsMedline, EBSCO, Proquest, Tobacco.org, and Google electronic
databases were searched, using the search terms:
tobacco, industry, tobacco control,
anti-industry, social marketing, denormalisation, countermarketing, legislation,
litigation, inquiry, and policy.
From the literature found, we selected three recent disparate policy examples.
The criteria for selection was that they were substantial and explicit policies
that were intended to directly erode industry power, and had high potential
relevance for the future of New Zealand tobacco control. The examples can also
be considered as very brief intrinsic case studies, of interest in
themselves.13
The examples were: British Columbia, as a case of a
jurisdiction legislating to enable litigation against the industry; Canada, as a
case of long-term resistance to the industry in court; and the Tobacco Free
Initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO) as a case involving effective
inquiries into links with the industry. To provide additional information, six
interviews were conducted with officials and advocates in the cities of Geneva,
Ottawa, and Victoria (British Columbia [BC]) during 2003.
ResultsActions by the Government of British ColumbiaSince 1997, the Provincial Government of BC has operated a
tobacco control programme with a considerable focus on directly eroding tobacco
industry power. In 1997, that Government adopted two main tobacco-control
strategies which were complementary:
Denormalisation is an approach which places the
industry as outside normal society, because of its consistently and inherently
unacceptable behaviour. At one level, it is the destruction of the
industry’s desired image, and its replacement by one based on the
industry’s adverse effects on health, equity, the economy, life and other
social costs. While a subsequent and more conservative BC Government has
diminished some aspects of tobacco control efforts since early 2002, much of the
industry focus has continued.
From 1997, industry activity was framed as ‘Big
Tobacco’, legal action was started against the industry to recover
healthcare costs, and retail sales were further restricted from 1998 with
regulations under the Tobacco Sales Act
1994.14 The industry was required to publicly disclose the material,
additives and harmful products from each brand.15 The BC Government has
legislated twice to enable the court action to go ahead (the first action was
defeated by the industry on constitutional grounds).16 In 2004, it won an Appeal
Court action to be able to continue the court action, and the industry’s
Supreme Court appeal against this was heard in June 2005.17 The BC legislation
established ‘the province’s right of action to recover costs from
tobacco companies; the province’s right to pursue claims on an aggregate
basic; (and) the validity of placing the onus of proof on the tobacco industry
on issues where the industry has superior knowledge’.16
The litigation is paid for and controlled by the BC
Provincial Health Department, ensuring that the action meets health objectives,
and is also not vulnerable to the priorities of other agencies. The litigation
has created free publicity, and has helped make public internal industry
documents that could be used for advocacy and health promotion.18 It has also
helped set the tone of political and public attitudes to, and discourse about,
the industry.
Actions by the Canadian Federal GovernmentThe aspects of the national Canadian tobacco control
strategy that directly erode tobacco industry power include legal action,
mandated health warnings, advertising restrictions, and research into industry
activities. The industry launched a legal attack on the 1988 Canadian tobacco
control legislation that banned advertising, winning a judgement against the
Government in 1995 on constitutional grounds. The Government then passed a new
Act in 1997 which was again challenged by the industry. In December 2002, the
Government won a comprehensive victory, with the Act being upheld, including the
right to require large picture warnings on packages. This judgement was very
largely upheld on appeal in 2005.19
This court action required a large commitment by Government
and officials over several years, with the Government defence depended on
indepth research in several fields. Besides the upholding of legislation, other
immediate results of the court action included evidence of document destruction
and concealment by the industry.20 Several other Government-initiated court
cases against tobacco companies are underway in Canada.21,22
This long experience of litigation appears to have produced
a number of downstream effects in Canada. These include the sensitising of the
public and politicians to industry misconduct, and the accumulation and use of
internal tobacco industry documents.20,23 The willingness to confront the
industry has included the passage by the Canadian Parliament of a Bill
regulating the fire safety of cigarettes.24
The Canadian Government has been exploring the adoption of
industry denormalisation as a basic tobacco control strategy. Political
considerations meant that the brief adoption of denormalisation in 1999 (as part
of the official tobacco control policy at the Federal level) was followed by the
suspension of the policy in 2000 and the replacement of it by a ‘harm
reduction’ policy in 2001.25 Currently, the strategy does not specifically
include industry denormalisation,26 despite the continued government court
actions.
WHO’s Tobacco Free Initiative (TFI)In 1998, the incoming WHO management was persuaded that the
tobacco industry was a threat to both WHO and to WHO tobacco control plans.27
This understanding was achieved by the production of internal tobacco industry
documents and by skilled advocacy. Lawyers who had just won the Minnesota case
against the industry and had a grasp of the industry’s pernicious and
deceitful behaviour,28,29 helped demonstrate the need for research and action
against the industry.30
An independent investigation committee with indepth skills
in organisational, policy, and corruption inquiries was assembled by WHO. The
committee found that the industry had deliberately subverted the purposes of
WHO’s tobacco control programmes, by elaborate plans over many years.31
The report and its recommendations enabled the WHO to establish
conflict-of-influence policies that would help limit tobacco industry
influence.32 The report also enabled a mandate from the World Health Assembly
(WHO’s political masters) to ‘inform Member States on activities of
the tobacco industry that have negative impact on tobacco control
efforts’.33
In turn, that mandate enabled WHO’s regional offices
to commission regional case studies that further demonstrated the harmful effect
of industry influence, (for instance in Latin America).34 Further WHO inquiries
are being conducted for national governments that have requested them. The
results of the reports were taken out to workshops and conferences, to emphasise
the need for awareness and action to limit industry influence.
The TFI has also helped point to a number of research and
action needs. These included the countering of industry marketing to youth by a
range of tactics, including the use of industry documents,35 and research on the
international activity of tobacco companies and policies to control those
activities.36 Examples of such research were published by the TFI. Of particular
note is the report for the TFI on litigation and public inquiries as effective
tools for tobacco control.37
Work for the TFI was conducted in parallel with the
development of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and was
supportive of that process. The efforts of NGOs, particularly through the
Framework Convention Alliance, has been significant in supporting and enabling
the success of the official FCTC process.38
The FCTC may provide opportunities for governments to
directly erode tobacco industry power. In particular, one part appears to give a
wide obligation and mandate: ‘Parties
shall act [to protect public health] from commercial and other vested interests
of the tobacco industry in accordance with national law’ (Article
5, section 3). This section appears to support government legislation and action
to control tobacco-industry activities.
Other examples of government activity to directly erode tobacco industry powerMedia campaigns that have focused
on the tobacco industry have included those of California (from 1990),39 Florida
(from 1998),40 the American Legacy Foundation across the USA41, Norway,42 and
Quebec, Canada.43
Government legal action continues in the USA, with the
Department of Justice case against the tobacco industry.44 The European
Community has taken a legal action against tobacco companies on several issues.
These include smuggling cigarettes into Iraq, in contravention of the UN
embargo.45 Elsewhere, countries such as Singapore, Thailand, and Brazil are
requiring graphic health warnings on cigarette packs.46
Inquiries into tobacco industry activity have been conducted
by the United Kingdom (UK) Parliamentary Health Select Committee,47 the UK
Department of Trade and Industry (from 2000),48 the Irish Parliament (as part of
a wider inquiry, with reports in 1999 and 2001),49 and the Australian Senate
(1994), amongst others. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has
investigated the industry to see if the terms ‘light’ and
‘mild’ were deceptive, and forced their removal from tobacco
brands.50
The possible impact of policies to erode industry powerIn conjunction with other tobacco-control activities at a
provincial and federal level (including significant tobacco tax rises and
smokefree environments policies) the BC tobacco-control strategy has been
associated in time with a reduction in smoking prevalence (for the 15 years plus
age group) from 22% to 15% between 1997 and 2004 (i.e. 1% per year for 7 years
in absolute terms).51,52
This decline is even faster than the most successful periods
in California and New Zealand. In California, the greatest prevalence reduction
was during 1991 to 1994, at 1% per year.53 In New Zealand, smoking prevalence
fell from 30% to 26% during 1987–91.54 The health and other cost savings
to government from the smoking prevalence reduction in BC were successfully used
to argue for the programme’s continuance. The legislative and legal focus
on the industry in Canada since 1987 (part of a comprehensive tobacco control
strategy) accompanied a decline in smoking prevalence from over 30% in 1991 to
20% in 2004 (for the 15 years plus age group)55 (Figure 1).
There is disagreement about the evidence for the impact of
anti-industry advertising. Goldman and Glantz have suggested that
‘industry manipulation’ media strategies are one of the two most
effective themes in the USA.56 Other authors have suggested caution about these
conclusions.57 Farrelly et al argue that anti-industry advertising can be highly
effective in changing youth attitudes to smoking.58 Pechmann et al suggest that
the industry’s deception is one of four themes that are effective in
preventing youth uptake.59 However, in a later article, they cast doubt on the
effectiveness for youth of anti-industry advertisements, compared to some other
tobacco control themes.60 Three recent evaluations of ‘Truth’
campaigns add support to such campaigns being effective.61-63 A review of
counter-marketing programmes indicates the difficulty for such evaluations in
allowing for the effects of other tobacco control programmes and for context.64
Figure 1: Adult smoking prevalence in Canada overall,
Canada’s British Columbia Province, and New Zealand from 1991 to
2003
![]() Political commitment to policies that erode industry powerIn several jurisdictions it appears that a reduction in
political commitment to policies that erode tobacco industry power can limit the
effectiveness of this approach. In California, the reduced commitment (for a
period from 1992) blunted the effectiveness of the media campaign exposing the
industry, resulting in a significant decline in the extent to which smoking
prevalence was being reduced.39,53 Similar damage to industry-focused media
campaigns occurred in Florida.65 In British Columbia, the change to a new
conservative government in 2002 was associated with the reduction of tobacco
control policy staff from 18 to 3, and the halting of tobacco control mass media
campaigns.
DiscussionThe limitations of this analysisThis analysis is limited in the scope of the type of
jurisdictions and organisations examined, and the period covered. The three main
examples examined have distinctive political and other contexts, potentially
limiting the value of comparisons with New Zealand. The operation of active
tobacco-control policies could in each case be partly due to unique political
windows of opportunity.
We emphasise that temporal associations between
interventions and declines in smoking prevalence provide only weak support for
causation in the absence of other evidence. Furthermore, a complicating factor
with assessing the impact of an ‘eroding industry power’ policy on
tobacco control outcomes is that such policies are generally bundled with other
components of tobacco control programmes. In particular, changes in smoking
prevalence depends on the interactions and combinations of many factors within
comprehensive programmes.66
Furthermore, the gradient of the smoking prevalence decline
in Figure 1 may suggest that there was no extra effect from the particular
industry focus from 1997 in British Columbia on the tobacco industry, compared
to Canada overall. However, it may be that the particular focus in BC
contributed to the decline in smoking prevalence to continue to below 20%. The
data on the smoking prevalence trend in the two jurisdictions over the next few
years may help to clarify this issue.
The major themes identifiedIn considering the direct erosion of tobacco industry power
via government policies, several principles emerge for consideration. They
include the need for:
Directly eroding industry power should be just one
part of programmes that include appropriately high tobacco-price levels,
effective smoking-cessation support, education, creating smokefree environments,
research, and advocacy. Because the political commitment to a policy of eroding
industry power may vary, it would be necessary to both embed that policy (by
legislation, organisational, and other structural means) and to ensure that
supplementary tobacco-control strategies are present. Most importantly, it would
be necessary to accurately gauge public attitudes to such policies.
The experience of the WHO’s TFI suggests other
particular lessons. They include the value of an inquiry into industry activity,
which can produce new information, sensitise policy makers and the media, and
help mandate action. The experience of the WHO indicates the need for explicit
and comprehensive conflict-of-interest policies to prevent industry influence of
the policy process.
The process to bring the FCTC to life underlines the mutual
dependence of nations in the face of the multi-national tobacco industry, and
the need for seeing tobacco control as a cross-border issue. Unless nation
states have the advantages of such international law, and have regional
neighbours with comparative strengths in tobacco control policies, advances
within states will be both more difficult, and more likely to be sidestepped by
international industry activity. This is particularly relevant for New
Zealand’s efforts to support health and development among Pacific Island
countries.
Should additional policies to erode industry power be adopted in New Zealand?Despite the limitations of the analysis, the temporal
association between the implementation of policies that erode industry power and
tobacco-control outcomes (including declines in smoking prevalence) suggests
that such policies need to be considered. Furthermore, the strength of tobacco
industry resistance to such approaches provides some indirect evidence that such
policies benefit tobacco control.67–70 Although much of the tobacco
control progress in Canada and British Columbia could be attributed to tobacco
price changes, the rapid progress compared to New Zealand may have been
augmented by the industry erosion policies.
Denormalising the industry may also benefit tobacco control
in general, by making political support more likely and political action more
acceptable. Although more research is required to clarify the issues, it would
seem prudent that the New Zealand Government and NGOs continue to implement
policies that erode industry power where circumstances permit and to evaluate
these wherever possible. These approaches would be consistent with past New
Zealand efforts to require health warnings, and to restrict tobacco promotion by
tobacco companies. Sustainable new policies may also need a minimum of research
and policy infrastructure, and work with WHO and with other jurisdictions to
boost local, regional and international tobacco control efforts that have an
industry focus.
What would the costs be of an industry focus approach? Any
government that stands up to the industry risks being the focus of large hostile
industry resources.67–70 However, New Zealand has a record of not only
being a successful leader in adopting tobacco control legislation in the face of
tobacco industry antagonism, but successfully confronting another powerful group
of multinationals—the pharmaceutical industry. The New Zealand Government
agency, PHARMAC, has been very effective in using legal actions to defend
government policy in that area.71,72
Any costs of an industry focus approach needs to be compared
with the tangible costs to the New Zealand economy of tobacco industry activity,
estimated at 1.7% of GDP annually, and the social cost of consequent illness and
premature death.73 The costs also need to be seen in the context of the low
level of spending on tobacco control over the last 20 years, and the level of
tobacco tax revenue gained by Government. Less than NZ$250 million (2004
dollars) was spent on tobacco control, which was less than 2.5% of tobacco tax
revenue collected during the period.74,75
Would an industry approach help narrow health inequalities
in the impact of tobacco use? Insofar as it may more clearly demonstrate the
exploitation of disadvantaged groups (such as Maori) by a powerful industry, the
approach could provide a better foundation for the rejection of that industry by
those groups.
The possible options for policies to erode industry power in New ZealandWithin an increased focus on eroding industry power as part
of tobacco control, the options for New Zealand include media and community
campaigns about industry behaviour, requirements for better warnings on packets,
industry monitoring, legal action (in court or by official inquiries), increased
and more effective advocacy, and more research about industry processes,
strategies, and activities. More fundamentally, an increased focus on the
industry within New Zealand tobacco control could require a substantial
reorientation of government and NGO processes and policies. Such a reorientation
could involve all sectors of Government taking a more critical stance to the
industry, and taking a deliberate strategy of distancing themselves from the
industry.
The assumption by some New Zealanders that the tobacco
industry is a ‘legitimate’ industry indicates the need for
well-resourced media campaigns to fully inform the public of the risks from this
industry’s behaviour.11,76 In particular, information could be given in
such campaigns on the international industry’s refusal to take
responsibility for its long-term denial of tobacco use risks; its continued
refusal to admit to the health risks of secondhand smoke exposure; its misuse of
product design; its marketing to youth; its opposition to tobacco-control
measures; and its perversion of the research and political policies
worldwide.3,4,10–12,28,29
The possible uses of statute law to limit industry
behaviour, and to make the activity more visible and understood, include
legislation on marketing (for instance shop displays), on information
disclosure, and to open the avenues of litigation.37,77 Legislation could set up
a regulatory control body for tobacco control that could have powers over the
manufacturers, importers, distributors, exporters and retailers.78–80
Legislation could require tobacco companies to both disclose information, and to
answer questions put to them.80
Within tobacco-control
research, several options could be
considered to enable a greater focus on the industry. These include monitoring
programmes for industry marketing efforts;81 and the mapping of the associations
between business and professional organisations and individuals, and the tobacco
industry.82 Much of industry erosion efforts depend on a better understanding by
both Government and NGOs of the industry, its associates, and their
activities.83–5
A comprehensive approach to eroding industry powerAny comprehensive strategy for a greater focus on eroding
tobacco industry power within the New Zealand context may benefit from at least
three features:
To strengthen regional and international tobacco
control action, the New Zealand Government could contribute to getting the FCTC
ratified in other countries (particularly those in the Pacific). NGO advocates
can also encourage a greater involvement by Government in the building of the
capacity to target the industry (e.g. through the programmes of the WHO’s
Tobacco Free Initiative). Without such international cooperation, the ultimate
contribution of these industry-focus policies to global tobacco control is
likely to be undermined by the capacity and coordination ability of the
multinational tobacco industry.
Author
information: George W Thomson, Research Fellow; Nick Wilson,
Senior Lecturer; Department of Public Health, Wellington School of Medicine
and Health Sciences, University of Otago, Wellington South
Acknowledgments:
This work has been helped by several funders including the NZ Ministry of
Research Science and Technology, ASH NZ, the NZ Smokefree Coalition, the NZ
Heart Foundation, the Auckland and Wellington Divisions of the Cancer Society of
NZ, and the University of Otago Research Committee. We also thank the
interviewees for their time and help, and the anonymous manuscript reviewers for
their comments and suggestions.
Correspondence: Dr
George Thomson, Department of Public Health, Wellington School of Medicine and
Health Sciences, University of Otago, PO Box 7343, Wellington South. Fax: (04)
389 5319; email: gthomson@wnmeds.ac.nz
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Current
issue | Search journal |
Archived issues | Classifieds
| Hotline (free ads) Subscribe | Contribute | Advertise | Contact Us | Copyright | Other Journals |