ASH Wales' financial accounts have finally come online. I have written previously about how the charity failed to send the Charity Commission the breakdown of where it's money was coming from.
As expected, it transpires that—after the Welsh government—Pfizer is its biggest sponsor. Pfizer does, of course, sell the stop-smoking drugs Nicorette and Chantix/Champix. In addition, ASH Wales' Tobacco Control Conference will be sponsored by Pfizer, McNeil, Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline, all of whom manufacture or market nicotine drugs.
ASH Wales 2008/09 accounts run as follows:
Welsh Assembly Government: £115,800Pfizer Foundation: £45,168British Heart Foundation: £24,666Donations: £2,697Other: £351Total: £188,682
Take note of the amount of voluntary donations: just £2,697. Less than 2% of this charity's income comes from the public. Meanwhile, Old Holborn has just announced that the blog-reading public has raised over £9,000 to free the Nick Hogan. Hogan should be released within hours, an extraordinary achievement all done in under a week with virtually no mainstream publicity. Perhaps the MSM will pick up on this story now?
