Worst corporate evildoers - more on coverups

[Guest guest]

The 14 Worst Corporate Evildoers

By A Global Exchange Report

Posted on December 12, 2005, Printed on December 12,

2005

http://www.alternet.org/story/29337/

Corporations carry out some of the most horrific human

rights abuses of modern times, but it is increasingly

difficult to hold them to account. Economic

globalization and the rise of transnational corporate

power have created a favorable climate for corporate

human rights abusers, which are governed principally

by the codes of supply and demand and show genuine

loyalty only to their stockholders.

Several of the companies below are being sued under

the Alien Tort Claims Act, a law that allows citizens

of any nationality to sue in US federal courts for

violations of international rights or treaties. When

corporations act like criminals, we have the right and

the power to stop them, holding leaders and

multinational corporations alike to the accords they

have signed. Around the world--in Venezuela,

Argentina, India, and right here in the United

States--citizens are stepping up to create democracy

and hold corporations accountable to international

law.

Caterpillar

For years, the Caterpillar Company has provided Israel

with the bulldozers used to destroy Palestinian homes.

Despite worldwide condemnation, Caterpillar has

refused to end its corporate participation house

demolition by cutting off sales of specially modified

D9 and D10 bulldozers to the Israeli military.

In a letter to Caterpillar CEO Owens, The Office

of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights said:

" allowing the delivery of your ... bulldozers to the

Israeli army ... in the certain knowledge that they

are being used for such action, might involve

complicity or acceptance on the part of your company

to actual and potential violations of human rights... "

Peace activist Corrie was killed by a

Caterpillar D-9, military bulldozer in 2003. She was

run over while attempting to block the destruction a

family's home in Gaza. Her family filed suit against

Caterpillar in March 2005 charging that Caterpillar

knowingly sold machines used to violate human rights.

Since Corrie's death at least three more Palestinians

have been killed in their homes by Israeli bulldozer

demolitions.

Chevron

The petrochemical company Chevron is guilty of some of

the worst environmental and human rights abuses in the

world. From 1964 to 1992, Texaco (which transferred

operations to Chevron after being bought out in 2001)

unleashed a toxic " Rainforest Chernobyl " in Ecuador by

leaving over 600 unlined oil pits in pristine northern

Amazon rainforest and dumping 18 billion gallons of

toxic production water into rivers used for bathing

water. Llocal communities have suffered severe health

effects, including cancer, skin lesions, birth

defects, and spontaneous abortions.

Chevron is also responsible for the violent repression

of peaceful opposition to oil extraction. In Nigeria,

Chevron has hired private military personnel to open

fire on peaceful protestors who oppose oil extraction

in the Niger Delta.

Additionally Chevron is responsible for widespread

health problems in Richmond, California, where one of

Chevron's largest refineries is located. Processing

350,000 barrels of oil a day, the Richmond refinery

produces oil flares and toxic waste in the Richmond

area. As a result, local residents suffer from high

rates of lupus, skin rashes, rheumatic fever, liver

problems, kidney problems, tumors, cancer, asthma, and

eye problems.

The Unocal Corporation, which recently became a

subsidiary of Chevron, is an oil and gas company based

in California with operations around the world. In

December 2004, the company settled a lawsuit filed by

15 Burmese villagers, in which the villagers alleged

Unocal's complicity in a range of human rights

violations in Burma, including rape, summary

execution, torture, forced labor and forced migration.

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola Company is perhaps the most widely

recognized corporate symbol on the planet. The company

also leads in the abuse of workers' rights,

assassinations, water privatization, and worker

discrimination. Between 1989 and 2002, eight union

leaders from Coca-Cola bottling plants in Colombia

were killed after protesting the company's labor

practices. Hundreds of other Coca-Cola workers who

have joined or considered joining the Colombian union

SINALTRAINAL have been kidnapped, tortured, and

detained by paramilitaries who are hired to intimidate

workers to prevent them from unionizing.

In India, Coca-Cola destroys local agriculture by

privatizing the country's water resources. In

Plachimada, Kerala, Coca-Cola extracted 1.5 million

liters of deep well water, which they bottled and sold

under the names Dasani and BonAqua. The groundwater

was severely depleted, affecting thousands of

communities with water shortages and destroying

agricultural activity. As a result, the remaining

water became contaminated with high chloride and

bacteria levels, leading to scabs, eye problems, and

stomach aches in the local population.

Coca-Cola is also one of the most discriminatory

employers in the world. In the year 2000, 2,000

African-American employees in the U.S. sued the

company for race-based disparities in pay and

promotions.

Dow Chemical

Dow Chemical has been destroying lives and poisoning

the planet for decades. The company is best known for

the ravages and health disaster for millions of

Vietnamese and U.S. Veterans caused by its lethal

Vietnam War defoliant, Agent Orange. Dow also

developed and perfected Napalm, a brutal chemical

weapon that burned many innocents to death in Vietnam

and other wars. In 1988, Dow provided pesticides to

Saddam Hussein despite warnings that they could be

used to produce chemical weapons.

In 2001, Dow inherited the toxic legacy of the worst

peacetime chemical disaster in history when it

acquired Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) and its

outstanding liabilities in Bhopal, India. On Dec. 3,

1984, a chemical leak from a UCC pesticide plant in

Bhopal gassed thousands of people to death and left

more than 150,000 disabled or dying. Dow still refuses

to address its liabilities in Bhopal.

Dow Chemical's impact is felt globally from its

Midland, Michigan headquarters to Plymouth New

Zealand. In Midland, Dow has been producing

chlorinated chemicals and burning and burying its

waste including chemicals that make up Agent Orange.

In Plymouth, New Zealand, 500,000 gallons of Agent

Orange were produced and thousands of tons of

dioxin-laced waste was dumped in agricultural fields.

DynCorp

Private security contractors have become the

fastest-growing sector of the global economy during

the last decade--a $100-billion-a-year, nearly

unregulated industry. DynCorp, one of the providers of

these mercenary services, demonstrates the industry's

power and potential to abuse human rights. While

guarding Afghan statesmen and African oil fields,

training Iraqi police forces, eradicating Colombian

coca plants, and protecting business interests in

hurricane-devastated New Orleans, these hired guns

bolster the security of governments and organizations

at the expense of many people's human rights.

DynCorp's fumigation of coca crops along the

Colombian-Ecuadorian border led Ecuadorian peasants to

sue DynCorp in 2001. Plaintiffs argued that DynCorp

knew--or should have known--that the herbicides were

highly toxic.

In 2001, a mechanic with DynCorp blew the whistle on

DynCorp employees in Bosnia for rape and trading girls

as young as 12 into sex slavery. According to a

lawsuit filed by the mechanic, " employees and

supervisors were engaging in perverse, illegal and

inhumane behavior [and] were purchasing illegal

weapons, women, [and] forged passports. " DynCorp fired

the whistleblower and transferred the employees

accused of sex trading out of the country, eventually

firing some. None were prosecuted.

Ford Motor Company

Among automakers, Ford Motor Company is the worst.

Every year since 1999, the US Environmental Protection

Agency has ranked Ford cars, trucks and SUVs as having

the worst overall fuel economy of any American

automaker. Ford's current car and truck fleet has a

lower average fuel efficiency than the original Ford

Model-T.

Ford is also in last place when it comes to vehicle

greenhouse gas emissions. According to a recent report

by the Union of Concerned Scientists, Ford has " the

absolute worst heat-trapping gas emissions performance

of all the Big Six automakers. "

Despite the company's recent greenwashing PR campaign,

its record has actually worsened. According to Ford's

own sustainability report, between 2003 and 2004, the

company's US fleet-wide fuel economy decreased and its

CO2 emissions went up. Ford has also lobbied against

lawmakers' efforts to increase fuel economy standards

at the national level and is also involved in a

lawsuit against California's fuel economy standards.

KBR (Kellogg, Brand, And Root): A Subsidiary of

Halliburton Corporation

KBR is a private company that provides military

support services. Notorious for its questionable

bookkeeping, dishonest billing practices with US

taxpayer dollars and no-bid contracts, KBR has

violated human rights on the U.S. dollar.

KBR's dubious accounting in Iraq came to light in

December 2003 when Pentagon auditors questioned

possible overcharges for imported gasoline. In June

2005, a previously secret Pentagon audit criticized

$1.4 billion in " questioned " and " unsupported "

expenditures. In 2002 the company paid $2 million to

settle a Justice Department lawsuit that accused KBR

of inflating contract prices at Fort Ord, California.

Many third-country national (TCN) laborers have been

hired by KBR to " rebuild " Iraq. Generally hailing from

impoverished Asian countries, they have unexpectedly

become part of the largest civilian workforce ever

hired in support of a U.S. war. Once abroad, the

workers find themselves with few protections and

uncertain legal status. TCNs often sleep in crowded

trailers and wait outside in scorching heat for food

rations. Many lack adequate medical care and put in

hard labor seven days a week, 10 hours or more a day.

Lockheed

Lockheed is the world's largest military

contractor. Providing satellites, planes, missiles and

other lethal high-tech items to the Pentagon keeps the

profits rolling in. Since 2000, the year Bush was

elected, the company's stock value has tripled.

As the Center for Corporate Policy

(www.corporatepolicy.org) notes, it is no coincidence

that Lockheed VP Bruce --who helped draft the

Republican foreign policy platform in 2000--is a key

player at the Project for a New American Century, the

intellectual incubator of the Iraq war.

Lockheed is not the only defense contractor

that goes behind the scenes to influence public

policy, but it is one of the worst. J. Hadley,

who now has Condoleeza Rice's old job as Assistant to

the President for National Security Affairs, was

formerly a partner in a DC law firm representing

Lockheed . He is only one of the beneficiaries

of the so-called revolving door between the military

industries and the " civilian " national security

apparatus. These war profiteers have a profound and

illegitimate influence on our country's international

policy decisions.

Monsanto

Monsanto is, by far, the largest producer of

genetically engineered seeds in the world, dominating

70% to 100% of the market for crops such as soy,

cotton, wheat and corn.

Monsanto is the world's leading producer of the

herbicide glyphosate, marketed as Roundup. Roundup is

sold to small farmers as a pesticide, yet harms crops

in the long run as the toxins accumulate in the soil.

Plants eventually become infertile, forcing farmers to

purchase genetically modified Roundup Ready Seed, a

seed that resists the herbicide. This creates a cycle

of dependency on Monsanto for both the weed killer and

the only seed that can resist it. Both products are

patented, and sold at inflated prices. Exposure to the

pesticide is documented to cause cancers, skin

disorders, spontaneous abortions, premature births,

and damage to the gastrointestinal and nervous

systems.

According to the India Committee of the Netherlands

and the International Labor Rights Fund, Monsanto also

employs child labor. In India, an estimated 12,375

children work in cottonseed production for farmers

paid by Indian and multinational seed companies,

including Monsanto.

Nestle USA

The problem of illegal and forced child labor is

rampant in the chocolate industry, because more than

40% of the world's cocoa supply comes from the Ivory

Coast, a country that the US State Department

estimates had approximately 109,000 child laborers

working in hazardous conditions on cocoa farms. In

2001, Save the Children Canada reported that 15,000

children between 9 and 12 years old, many from

impoverished Mali, had been tricked or sold into

slavery on West African cocoa farms, many for just $30

each.

Nestle, the third largest buyer of cocoa from the

Ivory Coast, is well aware of the tragically unjust

labor practices taking place on the farms with which

it continues to do business. Nestle and other

chocolate manufacturers agreed to end the use of

abusive and forced child labor on cocoa farms by July

1, 2005, but they failed to do so.

Nestle is also notorious for its aggressive marketing

of infant formula in poor countries in the 1980s.

Because of this practice, Nestle is still one of the

most boycotted corporations in the world, and its

infant formula is still controversial. In Italy in

2005, police seized more than two million liters of

Nestle infant formula that was contaminated with the

chemical isopropylthioxanthone (ITX).

Additionally, violations of labor rights are reported

from Nestle factories in numerous countries. In

Colombia, Nestle replaced the entire factory staff

with lower-wage workers and did not renew the

collective employment contract.

Philip USA and Philip International

(a.k.a. The Altria Group Inc.)

Among tobacco companies, Philip is notorious.

Now called Altria, it is the world's largest and most

profitable cigarette corporation and maker of

Marlboro, Virginia Slims, Parliament, Basic and many

other brands of cigarettes.

Documents uncovered in a lawsuit filed against the

tobacco industry by the state of Minnesota showed that

Philip and other leading tobacco corporations

knew very well of the dangers of tobacco products and

the addictiveness of nicotine. To this day, Philip

deceives consumers about the harm of its

products by offering light, mild and low-tar

cigarettes that give consumers the illusion these

brands are " healthier " than traditional cigarettes.

Although the company says it doesn't want kids to

smoke, it spends millions of dollars every day

marketing and promoting cigarettes to youth. Overseas,

it has even hired underage " Marlboro girls " to

distribute free cigarettes to other children and

sponsored concerts where cigarettes were handed out to

minors.

As anti-tobacco campaigns and government regulations

are slowing tobacco use in Western countries, Philip

has aggressively moved into developing country

markets, where smoking and smoking-related deaths are

on the rise. Preliminary numbers released by the World

Health Organization predict global deaths due to

smoking-related illnesses will nearly double by 2020,

with more than three-quarters of those deaths in the

developing world.

Pfizer

Pfizer is the largest pharmaceutical company in the

world; it is also one of the worst abusers of the

human right of universal access to HIV/AIDS medicine.

In addition to Viagra, Zoloft, Zithromax and Norvasc,

Pfizer produces the AIDS drug fluconazole under the

name Diflucan, and sells it at prices that poor people

with AIDS cannot afford. The company refuses to grant

generic licenses of fluconazole to governments in

countries like Brazil, South Africa, or Dominican

Republic, where patients are forced to pay $20 per

weekly pill, though the average national wage is only

$120 per month.

Pfizer also values shareholder profits over safety

standards. In Europe in 2005, it withdrew from

scientific studies of a new class of AIDS drugs called

CCR5 inhibitors, choosing instead to rush its own

untested CCR5 inhibitor onto the European market

without full information about the drug's side

effects.

Suez-Lyonnaise Des Eaux (SLDE)

The privatization of water has had a disastrous impact

on the human right to clean water, and the French

company Suez is the worst perpetrator of this abuse.

The company's billions of dollars in profit come at

the expense of poor people living in countries where

thousands lack access to potable water, and, because

of private water contracts, are also facing

skyrocketing water prices.

Suez goes by many names around the world--Ondeo, SITA

and others--to mask its worldwide net of controversial

activities. In Manila, Philippines, after seven years

of water privatization under a Suez company (Maynilad

Water) contract, studies showed that water rates

increased in some neighborhoods by 400 to 700 percent.

These studies also showed that the negligence of the

company resulted in cholera and gastroenteritis

outbreaks that killed six people and severely sickened

725 in Manila's Tondo district.

In Bolivia, a Suez company (Aguas de Illimani) left

200,000 people without access to water and caused a

revolt when it tried to charge between $335 and $445

to connect a private home to the water supply.

Countless people were unable to afford this charge in

a country whose yearly per capita GDP is $915.

Unfortunately, the IMF and World Bank are playing a

key role in pushing water privatization all over the

world. Many countries have been required to open up

their water supply to private companies as a condition

for receiving IMF loans, and the World Bank has

approved millions of dollars in loans for the

privatization of water systems.

Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart is the biggest corporation in the world. It

owns 5,100 stores worldwide and employs 1.3 million

workers in the United States and 400,000 abroad, as

well as millions more in the factories of its

suppliers.

Many people have heard of the way that Wal-Mart

steamrolls its way into every possible town,

destroying local supermarkets and countless small

businesses. We have also heard about Wal-Mart's long

track record of worker abuse, from forced overtime to

sex discrimination to illegal child labor to

relentless union busting. Wal-Mart also notoriously

fails to provide health insurance to over half of its

employees, who are then left to rely on themselves or

taxpayers, who provide for a portion of their

healthcare needs through government Medicaid.

Less well known is the fact that Wal-Mart maintains

its low price level by allowing substandard labor

conditions at the overseas factories producing most of

its goods. The company continually demands lower

prices from its suppliers, who, in turn, make more

outrageous and abusive demands on their workers in

order to meet Wal-Mart's requirements.

In September 2005, the International Labor Rights Fund

filed a lawsuit on behalf of Wal-Mart supplier

sweatshop workers in China, Indonesia, Bangladesh,

Nicaragua and Swaziland. The workers were denied

minimum wages, forced to work overtime without

compensation, and were denied legally mandated health

care. Other worker rights violations that have been

found in foreign factories that produce goods for

Wal-Mart include locked bathrooms, starvation wages,

pregnancy tests, denial of access to health care, and

workers being fired and blacklisted if they try to

defend their rights.

Visit Global Exchange to read the full report of the

Most Wanted Corporate Human Rights Violators of 2005,

and find out how to connect with groups that are doing

something about corporate abuses.

© 2005 Independent Media Institute. All rights

reserved.

View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/29337/

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Two of the industries that are being called out as among the 14 worst in the

world, have employeed in the past, one of the primary naysayers regarding

mold related illnesses, Bruce Kelman, of the environmental risk management

company, VeriTox (formerly GlobalTox).

Dr. Kelman was one of the co-authors of the ACOEM mold statement, as was

another prinicipal in the company, Hardin. Hardin is former NIOSH.

Kelman has written on behalf of that it was not determined

second hand smoke could cause illness.

He has also worked on behalf of Dow Chemical that it was not determined

silicone breast implants could cause illness.

There are other industries Kelman and company have also advised on regarding

the inability to prove illnesses.

They are well connected professional naysayers. Defensors. And they have

descended upon the multi-billion dollar mold issue in hoards.

Sharon

In a message dated 12/12/2005 7:06:26 AM Pacific Standard Time,

dottykalm@... writes:

Dow Chemical

Dow Chemical has been destroying lives and poisoning

the planet for decades. The company is best known for

the ravages and health disaster for millions of

Vietnamese and U.S. Veterans caused by its lethal

Vietnam War defoliant, Agent Orange. Dow also

developed and perfected Napalm, a brutal chemical

weapon that burned many innocents to death in Vietnam

and other wars. In 1988, Dow provided pesticides to

Saddam Hussein despite warnings that they could be

used to produce chemical weapons.

In 2001, Dow inherited the toxic legacy of the worst

peacetime chemical disaster in history when it

acquired Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) and its

outstanding liabilities in Bhopal, India. On Dec. 3,

1984, a chemical leak from a UCC pesticide plant in

Bhopal gassed thousands of people to death and left

more than 150,000 disabled or dying. Dow still refuses

to address its liabilities in Bhopal.

Dow Chemical's impact is felt globally from its

Midland, Michigan headquarters to Plymouth New

Zealand. In Midland, Dow has been producing

chlorinated chemicals and burning and burying its

waste including chemicals that make up Agent Orange.

In Plymouth, New Zealand, 500,000 gallons of Agent

Orange were produced and thousands of tons of

dioxin-laced waste was dumped in agricultural fields.

Philip USA and Philip International

(a.k.a. The Altria Group Inc.)

Among tobacco companies, Philip is notorious.

Now called Altria, it is the world's largest and most

profitable cigarette corporation and maker of

Marlboro, Virginia Slims, Parliament, Basic and many

other brands of cigarettes.

Documents uncovered in a lawsuit filed against the

tobacco industry by the state of Minnesota showed that

Philip and other leading tobacco corporations

knew very well of the dangers of tobacco products and

the addictiveness of nicotine. To this day, Philip

deceives consumers about the harm of its

products by offering light, mild and low-tar

cigarettes that give consumers the illusion these

brands are " healthier " than traditional cigarettes.

Although the company says it doesn't want kids to

smoke, it spends millions of dollars every day

marketing and promoting cigarettes to youth. Overseas,

it has even hired underage " Marlboro girls " to

distribute free cigarettes to other children and

sponsored concerts where cigarettes were handed out to

minors.

As anti-tobacco campaigns and government regulations

are slowing tobacco use in Western countries, Philip

has aggressively moved into developing country

markets, where smoking and smoking-related deaths are

on the rise. Preliminary numbers released by the World

Health Organization predict global deaths due to

smoking-related illnesses will nearly double by 2020,

with more than three-quarters of those deaths in the

developing world.

[Guest guest]

In the US, there are two organizations that are trying to end 'corporate

personhood', which is the first step towards making corporations accountable

for their actions. They are worth checking out.

http://reclaimingdemocracy.org/

http://poclad.org/

On 12/12/05, dottykalm <dottykalm@...> wrote:

>

> The 14 Worst Corporate Evildoers

> By A Global Exchange Report

> Posted on December 12, 2005, Printed on December 12,

> 2005

> http://www.alternet.org/story/29337/

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 12/12/2005 3:03:51 PM Pacific Standard Time,

dottykalm@... writes:

Very interesting, I wasn't aware of all those

connections. Yes, it seems that these good old boys

are the professional " discreditors, " and they are

well-paid for their efforts at misleading the public.

Wonder if there could be some sort of class action

suit against these guys? Any lawyers out there? Do

the medical review boards just overlook this stuff,

when a Judi

Judi,

One can't call it " member of their profession repeatedly harms the public

with this misinformation " If you notice in all instances, what is testified to

in court is that one can't prove it, based on whatever study - not that it

does not exists. (although I know of at least one that was stated " could not

be " under oath, not based on any scientific data that I am aware of.)

There appears to be a pattern of lack of public health safety concern on the

part of many of those professionals who argue that you can't prove it. It

causes confusion over these illnesses, which perpetuates ignorance and allows

more to become ill, but it is perfectly legal - maybe not ethical, but legal.

Sharon

[Guest guest]

Very interesting, I wasn't aware of all those

connections. Yes, it seems that these good old boys

are the professional " discreditors, " and they are

well-paid for their efforts at misleading the public.

Wonder if there could be some sort of class action

suit against these guys? Any lawyers out there? Do

the medical review boards just overlook this stuff,

when a member of their profession repeatedly harms the

public with this misinformation? Judi

--- snk1955@... wrote:

>

> Two of the industries that are being called out as

> among the 14 worst in the

> world, have employeed in the past, one of the

> primary naysayers regarding

> mold related illnesses, Bruce Kelman, of the

> environmental risk management

> company, VeriTox (formerly GlobalTox).

>

> Dr. Kelman was one of the co-authors of the ACOEM

> mold statement, as was

> another prinicipal in the company, Hardin.

> Hardin is former NIOSH.

>

> Kelman has written on behalf of that

> it was not determined

> second hand smoke could cause illness.

>

> He has also worked on behalf of Dow Chemical that it

> was not determined

> silicone breast implants could cause illness.

>

> There are other industries Kelman and company have

> also advised on regarding

> the inability to prove illnesses.

>

> They are well connected professional naysayers.

> Defensors. And they have

> descended upon the multi-billion dollar mold issue

> in hoards.

>

> Sharon

> In a message dated 12/12/2005 7:06:26 AM Pacific

> Standard Time,

> dottykalm@... writes:

>

> Dow Chemical

>

> Dow Chemical has been destroying lives and poisoning

> the planet for decades. The company is best known

> for

> the ravages and health disaster for millions of

> Vietnamese and U.S. Veterans caused by its lethal

> Vietnam War defoliant, Agent Orange. Dow also

> developed and perfected Napalm, a brutal chemical

> weapon that burned many innocents to death in

> Vietnam

> and other wars. In 1988, Dow provided pesticides to

> Saddam Hussein despite warnings that they could be

> used to produce chemical weapons.

>

> In 2001, Dow inherited the toxic legacy of the

> worst

> peacetime chemical disaster in history when it

> acquired Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) and its

> outstanding liabilities in Bhopal, India. On Dec.

> 3,

> 1984, a chemical leak from a UCC pesticide plant in

> Bhopal gassed thousands of people to death and left

> more than 150,000 disabled or dying. Dow still

> refuses

> to address its liabilities in Bhopal.

>

> Dow Chemical's impact is felt globally from its

> Midland, Michigan headquarters to Plymouth New

> Zealand. In Midland, Dow has been producing

> chlorinated chemicals and burning and burying its

> waste including chemicals that make up Agent

> Orange.

> In Plymouth, New Zealand, 500,000 gallons of Agent

> Orange were produced and thousands of tons of

> dioxin-laced waste was dumped in agricultural

> fields.

>

>

>

> Philip USA and Philip International

> (a.k.a. The Altria Group Inc.)

>

> Among tobacco companies, Philip is notorious.

> Now called Altria, it is the world's largest and

> most

> profitable cigarette corporation and maker of

> Marlboro, Virginia Slims, Parliament, Basic and

> many

> other brands of cigarettes.

>

> Documents uncovered in a lawsuit filed against the

> tobacco industry by the state of Minnesota showed

> that

> Philip and other leading tobacco corporations

> knew very well of the dangers of tobacco products

> and

> the addictiveness of nicotine. To this day, Philip

> deceives consumers about the harm of its

> products by offering light, mild and low-tar

> cigarettes that give consumers the illusion these

> brands are " healthier " than traditional cigarettes.

>

> Although the company says it doesn't want kids to

> smoke, it spends millions of dollars every day

> marketing and promoting cigarettes to youth.

> Overseas,

> it has even hired underage " Marlboro girls " to

> distribute free cigarettes to other children and

> sponsored concerts where cigarettes were handed out

> to

> minors.

>

> As anti-tobacco campaigns and government regulations

> are slowing tobacco use in Western countries,

> Philip

> has aggressively moved into developing

> country

> markets, where smoking and smoking-related deaths

> are

> on the rise. Preliminary numbers released by the

> World

> Health Organization predict global deaths due to

> smoking-related illnesses will nearly double by

> 2020,

> with more than three-quarters of those deaths in

> the

> developing world.

>

>

>

> [Non-text portions of this message have been

> removed]

>

>

>

>

>

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Yes, but they repeatedly IMPLY through their public

statements, such as the one by Bardana a few months

ago in the Web MD article, that because there is no

proof, there is no cause for concern.

This is so misleading. But, I understand what you are

saying about the legality of it all. There is also a

pattern of unethical behavior based upon financial

motivations to discredit whatever the study is,

whether it's tobacco, mold, breast implants, etc.

Maybe that's the point, there appears to be no

standards for ethics...or ethics review boards.

--- snk1955@... wrote:

>

> In a message dated 12/12/2005 3:03:51 PM Pacific

> Standard Time,

> dottykalm@... writes:

>

> Very interesting, I wasn't aware of all those

> connections. Yes, it seems that these good old

> boys

> are the professional " discreditors, " and they are

> well-paid for their efforts at misleading the

> public.

> Wonder if there could be some sort of class action

> suit against these guys? Any lawyers out there?

> Do

> the medical review boards just overlook this stuff,

> when a Judi

>

>

> Judi,

>

> One can't call it " member of their profession

> repeatedly harms the public

> with this misinformation " If you notice in all

> instances, what is testified to

> in court is that one can't prove it, based on

> whatever study - not that it

> does not exists. (although I know of at least one

> that was stated " could not

> be " under oath, not based on any scientific data

> that I am aware of.)

>

> There appears to be a pattern of lack of public

> health safety concern on the

> part of many of those professionals who argue that

> you can't prove it. It

> causes confusion over these illnesses, which

> perpetuates ignorance and allows

> more to become ill, but it is perfectly legal -

> maybe not ethical, but legal.

>

> Sharon

>

>

> [Non-text portions of this message have been

> removed]

>

>

>

>

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