Articles

Background INTERPOL is the world’s largest police organisation working across its 190 member countries to fight international crime. 1 Relationship with the Tobacco Industry Donation from PMI for INTERPOL to work with the tobacco industry to promote Codentify In 2011 INTERPOL accepted a donation from Philip Morris International (PMI) of €15 million for three years of funding. With…

PMI IMPACT is a US$100 million funding initiative launched by Philip Morris International (PMI) in 2016.19 It describes itself as “a global initiative to support public, private, and nongovernmental organizations to develop and implement projects against illegal trade and related crimes”.20 Background Funding Process PMI IMPACT funding allocation is split into several funding rounds, each with…

Background The British Brands Group (BBG) was established in 1994 and describes itself as “a membership organisation dedicated to championing brands in the UK”. The Group says its “objective is to ensure that their positive contribution to consumers, the economy and society is better understood by policy makers and others”.56 Screengrab of BBG’s 2010 submission to the European…

Instinctif Partners, which was known as the College Group until 2014, is a Public Relations (PR) company based in the United Kingdom (UK), with a presence in Europe, the United States, the Middle East, and Africa.7273 The company has worked with the tobacco and e-cigarette industries. In 2020, for example, the EU Transparency register showed that Instinctif was…

Background The TransAtlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) was set up in 1995 by the American Department of Commerce and the European Commission to act as a go-between for American and European business leaders and America cabinet secretaries and European Union (EU) commissioners. The Transatlantic Policy Network, a free market think tank aimed at strengthening political and corporate links…

Background The tobacco industry founded the Tobacco Institute (TI) in the United States (US) in 1958. The Institute was funded by both the major and smaller tobacco companies of the day. The amount of money provided by each company was determined by their share of the US cigarette market. The TI was the group primarily responsible for communicating the tobacco…

The Tobacco Industry Research Committee was founded in December 1953 in response to evidence linking tobacco smoking to serious illness such as lung cancer and heart disease.119 Image 1 https://content.tobaccotactics.org/legacy/attachments/15048-ACOSH-BigTobacco-r2FINAL.pdf Australian Council on Smoking & Health Parody of the 1953 NYC meeting between the tobacco industry and PR group Hill & Knowlton On 14 December 1953, organised by…

The Mentor Group Institute for Intercultural Education, known as The Mentor Group, is an American think tank established in 1983 by Thomas Kosmo. Its purpose is “to conduct legal and economic studies and research for scholars and officials of the United States of America and Europe”.128 Background The Mentor Group has founded the following policy platforms: Forum…

Image 1: Swedish Match General snus Swedish Match is a Swedish tobacco company that manufactures and sells snus (image 1), moist snuff, cigars, chewing tobacco and matches. Philip Morris International (PMI) bought the company in 2022. The company used to sell cigarettes, but decided in 1999 to divest its cigarette business to Austria Tabak.141…

R.J. Reynolds is a tobacco company based in the United States (U.S). British American Tobacco (BAT) bought the company and its holding company Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) 2017.206 Before the takeover by BAT, RJ Reynolds Tobacco was the second-largest tobacco company in the US, making Camel, Pall Mall, Doral, Kool, Winston and Salem cigarettes. Acquired Lorillard…