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Prestigious Journal Unveils Extensive Evidence of Tobacco Industry Campaign to Undermine Infact Corporate Accountability Organization Intensifies Resolve to Rein in Philip Morris in Response to Study Released in American Journal of Public Health For Immediate Release: Contacts: BOSTON -- A case study on tobacco industry surveillance of public health groups released in the June issue the American Journal of Public Health demonstrates that Philip Morris has been covertly tracking and trying to undermine the national corporate accountability organization Infact's Tobacco Industry Campaign since 1993. The study, which also includes the history of industry surveillance of STAT (Stop Teenage Addiction to Tobacco), concludes that tobacco industry surveillance is "real, intense, and covert and may obstruct public health initiatives." According to Infact Executive Director Kathryn Mulvey, "Philip Morris is trying to brush this off as normal business activity, but the internal documents show that this $73 billion corporation perceives a real threat from public health advocates and responds aggressively with unethical tactics. In the coming months Infact and our allies will continue to expose and challenge Big Tobacco's dirty tricks in the final drafting phase of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the world's first public health treaty." One of the individuals identified in the journal article as a tobacco industry consultant-Susan Heenan of North Olmstead, Ohio-has been an active member of Infact since 1996. Heenan not only presented herself to Infact organizers as a sincere activist genuinely concerned about the abuses of transnational corporations, but even denied any connection with R. J. Reynolds when directly confronted several years ago. Heenan joined Infact in October 1993, five months after the organization began its Tobacco Industry Campaign. Using the tobacco industry's own internal documents, the study conducted by Ruth E. Malone, RN, PhD describes how the industry engaged in "aggressive intelligence gathering, using intermediaries to obtain materials under false pretenses, &publicly minimizing the effects of boycotts, painting health advocates as 'extreme,' identifying and exploiting disagreements, and planning to 'redirect the funding' of tobacco control organizations to other purposes." "We know that Philip Morris is pulling out all the stops to undermine the FCTC, and we have every reason to believe that the tobacco giant is only intensifying the tactics documented in this study at this critical phase of the treaty process," says Mulvey. The article, entitled "Tobacco Industry Surveillance of Public Health Groups: the Case of STAT and Infact," was published in the American Journal of Public Health follows only months after the revelation that Philip Morris hired PR firm Mongoven, Biscoe and Duchin to help it challenge the FCTC. MBD, notorious for its behind-the-scenes efforts to undermine advocacy on consumer and environmental protection, advised Philip Morris in 1997 to delay the adoption of a convention. In light of the evidence of industry interference and infiltration, Infact has vowed to increase its vigilance of Philip Morris activity leading into the next round of treaty negotiations, set for October 2002 in Geneva. Infact, a founding member of the Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals, was granted official relations status with the World Health Organization earlier this year. The Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals (NATT) includes 75 consumer, human rights, environmental, faith-based, public health, and corporate accountability NGOs from more than 50 countries advocating a tough, enforceable FCTC. ### Since 1977, Infact has been exposing life-threatening abuses of transnational corporations and organizing successful grassroots campaigns to hold corporations accountable to consumers and society at large. From the Nestlé Boycott of the 1970s and '80s to the GE Boycott of the 1980s and '90s to today's Boycott of Philip Morris's Kraft Foods, Infact organizes to win!
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