Carter S M, Chapman S
School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Tob Control. 2003 Dec;12 Suppl 3(Suppl 3):iii23-30. doi: 10.1136/tc.12.suppl_3.iii23.
To contrast the Australian tobacco industry's awareness of the diseases caused by smoking with their aggressive public denial on the relation between smoking and disease in the 1980s.
Analysis of 325 industry documents from the world wide web.
In the 1980s Australian cigarette manufacturers were informed constantly by the international industry of the medical consensus that smoking caused disease. In addition Philip Morris (Australia) Limited received reports of Philip Morris' international biological research programme and visited its Richmond research facility; and WD&HO Wills part funded, co-managed, and contributed research to the British American Tobacco groups' biological research programme. Despite this knowledge, the Australian manufacturers had a policy of arguing to their employees, decision makers, and the general public that questions of smoking and disease were unresolved. The industry catalogued the literature, developed arguments against the main claims made by health groups, and attacked public health advocates who made statements linking smoking to death and disease. Industry studies suggested that a 20-30% minority of the Australian public agreed with the industry on smoking and disease, diminishing across the decade.
Australian manufacturers were clearly negligent in the 1980s, deliberately working to undermine Australians' understandings of the diseases caused by smoking despite their own private knowledge. Continuing scepticism about smoking and disease, corresponding with the industry's deceptions, exists in Australian smokers today, suggesting that their actions may have slowed the rate of decline in smoking prevalence. These revelations provide important evidence for Australian litigation and advocacy.
对比澳大利亚烟草行业在20世纪80年代对吸烟所致疾病的认知与他们在公众层面坚决否认吸烟与疾病之间关系的行为。
对来自万维网的325份行业文件进行分析。
在20世纪80年代，国际烟草行业不断告知澳大利亚香烟制造商吸烟导致疾病这一医学共识。此外，菲利普·莫里斯（澳大利亚）有限公司收到了菲利普·莫里斯国际生物研究项目的报告，并参观了其里士满研究设施；而英美烟草集团的生物研究项目部分资金由WD&HO威尔斯提供，该公司还共同管理并参与了该项目的研究。尽管了解这些情况，但澳大利亚制造商仍向其员工、决策者和公众辩称，吸烟与疾病的问题尚无定论。该行业对相关文献进行了编目，针对健康组织的主要主张提出了反对观点，并攻击那些发表将吸烟与死亡和疾病联系起来言论的公共卫生倡导者。行业研究表明，20%至30%的澳大利亚公众在吸烟与疾病问题上认同烟草行业的观点，这一比例在整个十年间呈下降趋势。
澳大利亚制造商在20世纪80年代显然存在疏忽，尽管他们私下了解吸烟致病的情况，但仍蓄意破坏澳大利亚人对吸烟所致疾病的认知。如今澳大利亚吸烟者中对吸烟与疾病仍存在持续的怀疑态度，这与烟草行业的欺骗行为相对应，表明他们的行为可能减缓了吸烟率下降的速度。这些揭露为澳大利亚的诉讼和宣传提供了重要证据。
