Updated January 2008
Tobacco
Health and Economic Impact
Tobacco use is the number one preventable cause of disease in the United States. According to 2005 CDC report , tobacco-related illness prematurely kills 440,000 in the United States each year and costs an estimated $92 billion a year in lost productivity. In order to remain profitable, large tobacco companies continually seek to increase the market share for their brand of cigarettes and to attract new smokers. One key tactic is the marketing of cigarettes to adolescent and young adult smokers, who constitute approximately ninety percent of the new smoker market and disproportionately choose the heavily advertised brands of big tobacco giants, such as Lorillard's Newport, Altria's [Phillip Morris] Marlboro brands and RJ Reynold's Camel. Many research studies have found that tobacco companies disproportionately target African American communities, women and other minority communities. Recently, US tobacco companies have also increased marketing in developing nations, promising to make tobacco mortality a new American export.
Political and Social Context
Health Advocacy targeting the tobacco industry is nearly half a century old, and has achieved significant results including a decrease in the number of smokers nationally and the 1999 Master Settlement Agreement, which placed strict regulations on tobacco advertising and forbid the marketing of cigarettes to underage smokers. However, since the late 1990s, the federal government has played a less active role in regulating tobacco corporations. The federal government has been hesitant to maintain enforcement or create new anti-tobacco legislation requesting FDA regulation of tobacco, which has been introduced and failed to pass each year since 2000.
Resources
Top 3 Tobacco Product Corporations
Altria Group (Philip Morris)
2006 Total Revenues: $101.4 billion
2006 Tobacco Revenues: $66.7 billion
2008 Election cycle political contributions
by Altria Group PAC: $986,500
2007 Lobbying expenditures: $7.2 million
Reynolds American (RJ Reynolds)
2006 Revenues: $8.5 billion
2008 Election cycle political contributions
by RJ Reynolds PAC: $770,500
2007 Lobbying expenditures: $1.95 million
Loews Corp (Lorillard)
2006 Total Revenues: $17.9 billion
2006 Tobacco Revenues: $3.9 billion
2008 Election cycle political contributions
by Lorillard PAC: $175,250
2007 Total Lobbying expenditures: $1.96 million
Overall Tobacco Industry Political Contributions:
Since 1997, more than $34.7 million
Industry Allies
Association for Petroleum and Convenience Retailing
Center for Consumer Freedom
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Forces
National Association of Tobacco Outlets
Tobacco Manufacturers Association (United Kingdom)
Government/Regulatory Agencies Involved in Tobacco Control
ATF (Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms)
Centers for Disease Control
NATIONAL RESOURCES
Organizations and Campaigns Challenging Industry Practices
American Cancer Society
Americans for Non-Smokers' Rights
American Heart Association
American Legacy Foundation
American Lung Association
Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids
Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education
Altria Means Tobacco
The Cigarette Papers
Nightingales Nurses
Smoke Free Movies
Tobacco Control Archives
Commercial Alert
Gay American Smoke Out
Harvard Center for Society and Health
Join Together
National Association of African Americans for Positive Imagery
National African American Tobacco Prevention Network
The National Latino Council on Tobacco and Alcohol Prevention
SmokeFree.net
Sourcewatch
INTERNATIONAL RESOURCES
Organizations and Campaigns Challenging Industry Practices
Action on Smoking and Health
Communities Under Siege: United Against the Globalization of Big Tobacco
CorpWatch
Corporate Accountability International
Essential Action
Global Exchange
Global Partnership for Tobacco Control
International Network of Women Against Tobacco
Multinational Monitor
Selected References on Tobacco Industry Practices and Health
Impact of the Practices of the Tobacco Industry on Health: Selected References [pdf]
This list of references is based on a literature review conducted in 2006–2008 by Corporations and Health Watch staff. We invite readers to send us additional references.
Archives
View the Corporations and Health Archives for more information on the Tobacco Industry.
