tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3585028625507474093.post6133173281849154510..comments2023-10-17T15:56:22.827+01:00Comments on Velvet Glove, Iron Fist: Big Pharma and the nicotine warsChristopher Snowdonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15963753745009712865noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3585028625507474093.post-35148604014862691862013-09-03T19:54:46.978+01:002013-09-03T19:54:46.978+01:00Cheap cigarettes, cigaretteking.webs.com , high q...Cheap cigarettes, cigaretteking.webs.com , high quality , made in europe cigarettes Manufactured under control Philip Morris Brands Sarl, Switzerland.moneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17528203118500710990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3585028625507474093.post-89105045206336725682013-09-03T00:30:37.385+01:002013-09-03T00:30:37.385+01:00Rebecca,
I'm sorry that I didn't respond ...Rebecca,<br /><br />I'm sorry that I didn't respond earlier but I only just saw your comment. Probably neither you nor many others will ever read this reply, but I should say that the tobacco industry lobbying is expected and well covered (such as in the radio 4 programme you mention). The pharamaceutical lobbying has not been at all well reported, which is why we have to look in the Polish press to mention it. It deserves wider attention, IMO.<br /><br />As for the Dalli affair, it may be true that "some people suspect" that it was instigated by the tobacco industry, but I've covered the story exhaustively over the last year and can't find any evidence that this is so, nor does there seem to be any obvious motive. Christopher Snowdonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15963753745009712865noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3585028625507474093.post-64110824777539986762013-08-28T16:26:55.328+01:002013-08-28T16:26:55.328+01:00Rebecca Taylor - I think you misunderstand the rea...Rebecca Taylor - I think you misunderstand the real reason for why this directive is put forward in the first place. The reason is not public health. It has been put forward with health arguments and it is put forward by the health commissioner, yes - but the real reason for it is pure business. Money.<br /><br />Briefly the big players in the pharma industry want a worldwide nicotine monopoly and have been fighting for grabbing the nicotine out of the hands of the tobacco industry since the invention of the nicotine gum in the 1980's.<br /><br />The big pharma players have been very succesful in the last decades - lobbying heavily for smoking bans and high cigarette taxes all over the world, which of course have boosted the pharma revenues, while other industries have suffered. But since 2010 a new non-tobacco competitor entered the stage and took a serious bite of pharma's nicotine revenues: The E-cigarette.<br /><br />This is the sole reason for the Big Pharma involvement in the directive and their letter to Barroso: They want the commission and the EU to strangle their smaller competitors in order to gain a monopoly.<br /><br />All the public health groups that signed their letter is, one way of the other, beholden to the pharma industry, since the pharma giants are the only ones with any money in the whole field of public health.<br /><br />Your suggestion that the MEP's signing the letter are not aware of these facts may in some cases be true. Putting one's name on a letter from the leaders of one of today's most criminal industries is a very naive thing to do, to say the least. I find it more likely that at least some of the MEP's know perfectly well what is going on and that they rely on the public igorance of the facts.<br /><br />They maybe even rely on being forgiven for their actions if they point their fingers towards the old scapegoat, the tobacco industry. Like you do yourself. But in the end truth will prevail, as you know ...Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03115971330333201180noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3585028625507474093.post-70281186987477648772013-08-28T09:31:46.308+01:002013-08-28T09:31:46.308+01:00Interesting that you do not mention the lobbying o...Interesting that you do not mention the lobbying of the tobacco industry on this directive, which has been very successful if you look at how many MEPs across the political spectrum voted against tobacco control measures. <br /><br />BBC radio 4 did a good exposé of tobacco industry lobbying revealing among others unidentifiable hard copies of AMs that ended up being tabled by MEPs. <br /><br />The letter that went to Barroso was signed by many MEPs, public health organisations as well as pharma companies. The idea that this proves some kind of collusion is a joke; my colleague Chris Davies, one of the biggest supporters of ecigs in the EP also co-signed that letter. How do you explain that? <br /><br />You also fail to mention the Dalli scandal that preceded that letter, which some people suspect was instigated by the tobacco industry in order to delay the progress of the tobacco directive.<br /><br />Klaus Heine Lehne, the chair of the Legal Affairs committee who was rapporteur for the tobacco directive in that committee, is a partner in a law firm that has tobacco industry clients, which is a far closer link to big tobacco than Linda McAvan has to the pharma industry. Rebecca Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09016047899877311977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3585028625507474093.post-33813841809903622652013-08-27T21:06:01.837+01:002013-08-27T21:06:01.837+01:00It is amazing how none of this is ever reported in...It is amazing how none of this is ever reported in the press. Junican https://www.blogger.com/profile/03405543859782362078noreply@blogger.com