Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, December 12, 1993 TAG: 9312100113
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAUL RAEBURN Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
The Pfizer pharmaceutical company, which has lately placed full-page ads in newspapers saying "We're part of the cure," makes flavor enhancers used in cigarettes. Sandoz, a maker of asthma medicines, sells seeds and pesticides to the tobacco industry.
Kimberly-Clark, the maker of Kleenex, Kotex and hospital paper products, is a leading supplier of cigarette paper and filters.
Dr. Alan Blum, who directed a study about the links, called on doctors and hospitals to refuse to deal with these companies in cases where alternative medicines and products are available.
These companies and others "know what the tobacco industry is, and they choose to do business with them," Blum said. "I don't care what they do, but they shouldn't portray themselves as healthful companies."
Not all companies that could sell to the tobacco industry do so, he said.
Among others that do are Ciba-Geigy, a maker of nicotine skin patches used to help smokers quit, which makes pesticides used by tobacco growers, among others. Marion Merrell Dow makes nicotine patches and chewing gum, while its owner, Dow Chemical, sells a chemical humidifier to the tobacco industry.
Cigarette smoking is the nation's leading cause of preventable death, responsible for 419,000 deaths in 1990, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Blum is a professor at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and the founder of Doctors Ought to Care, an activist group that wages campaigns against the tobacco and alcohol industries. Part of his ongoing tobacco industry study appeared in the March 1993 issue of Tobacco Control.
Scott Ballin, a vice president of the American Heart Association, encourages the companies to drop their tobacco business: "It seems to be inconsistent with their overall mission, if they are directly or indirectly aiding the promotion of tobacco products in this country."
The companies cited by Blum confirmed his findings and generally defended their tobacco dealings on the grounds that it was not up to them to limit others' choices or to decide how their products were used, as long as the products were used safely.
"The objectives of Kimberly-Clark are the corporation's success," said spokeswoman Jean Allen. "I don't think there's a hypocrisy. If we discontinued our tobacco business, a lot of people would lose jobs. That's as important as any issue."
"We don't feel it's correct to make up personal choices for people," said Joseph Lavin of Sandoz. "I guess we don't see a conflict," said Susan Warner of Ciba-Geigy.
Pfizer said its tobacco links represent a very small portion of its business. "Our customers do many things with our products and this is one of them," said spokesman Andy McCormick.
Other companies cited by Blum included:
- 3M, which makes an asthma medicine and "actively encourages tobacco use as the largest outdoor advertising company in the United States," Blum said. (The National Advertising billboard company is a 3M subsidiary.)
- Hoechst Celanese, which makes a drug to improve blood circulation and a fiber used in cigarette filters.
Procordia, a Stockholm company that made nicotine chewing gum and chewing tobacco, recently sold off its tobacco subsidiary, to the great relief of its pharmaceutical division, Pharmacia.
"There have been so many voices raised about the fact that we are with one hand making an aid for stopping smoking and with the other hand having tobacco industry products," said Michael Frazon of Pharmacia. "It looked bad."
by CNB