Articles

Jan du Plessis was Chairman of British American Tobacco (BAT) between 2004 and 2009.12 Background Du Plessis has held senior positions with several companies, including: Non-Executive Director BT Group (from 1 June 2018) and Chairman BT Group (from 1 November 2017) 3 Chairman of mining corporation Rio Tinto (April 2009 – March 2018) Board member (since…

James Gray was elected Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for North Wiltshire (England) in May 1997. Relationship with the Tobacco Industry Accepted Tobacco Hospitality In May 2011, Gray accepted two tickets to the Chelsea Flower Show worth £1,132.80 from Japan Tobacco International (JTI).7 JTI spent £23,000 entertaining MPs in the UK in six months during 2011.8…

Jaine Chisholm Caunt is the Secretary General of the Tobacco Manufacturers’ Association.9 She was appointed in September 2011.10 Before the TMA, Chisholm was Director of Stakeholder & Policy at Cogent, “the Sector Skills Council for the UK chemicals, pharmaceuticals, nuclear, petroleum, polymer and oil & gas industries”.11 Links to Conservative Party Chisholm Caunt has…

Jacob Sullum is the Senior Editor of the Reason Magazine, the oldest media channel owned by the Reason Foundation, an American libertarian think tank.15 Relationship with the Tobacco Industry The Reason Foundation has a history of receiving donations from tobacco companies.1617 It has promoted anti-tobacco regulation messages, in relation to tax measures, plain…

Jack Bowles has been a member of the British American Tobacco (BAT) management team from 2009.33 On 1 April 2019 Bowles was appointed BAT’s CEO, succeeding Nicandro Durante.34 Career with British American Tobacco Bowles joined BAT in 2004 and has held several leadership positions including:33 Chief Operating Officer of BAT’s international business (2017)35…

The International Trademark Association (INTA), which is headquartered in New York, is a global association that promotes and protects the rights of trademark owners.50 INTA’s 2017 annual report states that it works to “counter legislative initiatives on brand restrictions”, including large health warnings and plain packaging for tobacco and alcohol products.51 INTA mostly does this by…

The International Tobacco Growers Association (ITGA) describes itself to be a “non-profit organisation…with the objective of presenting the cause of millions of tobacco farmers to the world”.77 In fact, it is a tobacco industry front group set up and run by major cigarette manufacturers. A “Front” for Lobbying in Low and Middle Income Countries Tobacco industry documents…

The International Tax and Investment Center (ITIC) was founded in 1993. It claims to be an independent, non-profit research and education foundation.110 Background ITIC has offices in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, Russia, Ukraine, the United Kingdom (UK), the United States (US), and works in many more countries around the world. Two years after its inception, ITIC reported that…

Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, USA. It was founded in 1924, with a multi-million dollar gift from the Duke Endowment, a philanthropic fund set up by the Duke tobacco dynasty. The university’s precursor, Trinity College, was renamed Duke University in memory of the family.163 James Buchanan ‘Buck’ Duke left approximately half of…

John Dudley Fishburn (known as Dudley) is a British businessman and former politician. Background From 1988 to 1997, Fishburn was the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Kensington (England) and served as a Parliamentary Private Secretary in the administrations of Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major.184 Before becoming an MP, Fishburn was Executive Editor of The Economist…