Articles

Donna Edmunds is an activist and writer who has held posts at various right wing think tanks including Director of Research at Progressive Vision, a contributor to The Freedom Association and Head of Media at the Bow Group. She has worked in the offices of Therese Coffey MP and former UKIP MEP Roger Helmer. Edmunds is a…

An Important Tobacco Control Measure In 2006, an article in the peer-reviewed journal Tobacco Control noted that “Banning the display of tobacco products at point of sale is an important international tobacco control policy frontier.”16 In December 2008, the then Health Secretary for England Alan Johnson said he would be introducing a Point of Sale Display Ban (POSD)…

Dirk Vennix was appointed Director of Communications at the UK-based Tobacco Manufacturers’ Association (TMA) in 2008. Vennix had a youth marketing background which he said would be useful in the new role: “‘Youth prevention work is a key part of what we’re trying to achieve here,’ he claimed,” PRweek wrote at the time.24 Prior to joining the…

Dirk Hudig is a lobbyist who has links to the tobacco industry, according to documents from the Tobacco Archive. Background His current employer, Fipra – Finsbury International Policy & Regulatory Advisers – claims to be “Europe’s leading and most extensive public affairs consultancy network advising clients on a range of government relations and regulatory policy issues.” The Fipra website…

Dinyar Devitre became an non-executive director of Altria in 2008.32 Long-Standing Career in the Tobacco Industry Devitre was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Altria Group from 2002 to 2008.33 Prior to this, Devitre held various senior roles at Philip Morris from the 1970s to the late 1990s, including:34 1992-1997: Vice President…

The Digital Coding and Tracking Association (DCTA) is a front group, launched in 2013 by the four multinational tobacco companies: British American Tobacco (BAT), Imperial Tobacco (now called Imperial Brands), Japan Tobacco International (JTI), and Philip Morris International (PMI). The DCTA has promoted the industry’s tobacco tracking and tracing technology Codentify, often without disclosing…

Des Naughton was a member of the British American Tobacco (BAT) management team from 2010 to 2015, when he left BAT.67 Long-Standing Career with British American Tobacco Naughton joined BAT in 199568, and has held a number of management roles:69 Director Next-Generation Products, Managing Director Nicoventures and CN Creative (2013-2015) 2011 Group Operations Director…

Denise F. Keane became Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Altria in 2001.7374 In May 2017 she announced she would retire on 1 July 2017.75 Long-Standing Career in the Tobacco Industry Keane joined Philip Morris USA in 1977 as an attorney.76 TobaccoTactics Resources Altria Philip Morris USA External Link…

“A last trick is to become personal, insulting, rude, as soon as you perceive that your opponent has the upper hand, and that you are going to come off worst. It consists in passing from the subject of dispute, as from a lost game, to the disputant himself, and in some way attacking his person … But in becoming personal…

Background The Democracy Institute calls itself “a politically independent public policy research organization based in Washington and London”. Founded in 2006, it argues that it “aims to provide a balanced and thoughtful perspective on topical issues, promoting open and rational debate based on evidence rather than ideology”.82 Its director is Dr Patrick Basham, who was also an…