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API and Data Sets - Wondering how to download large batches of IDL records at once? How about the entire corpus of documents in IDL for use in data analysis or digital humanities projects? For researchers who would prefer to work with Industry Documents Library (IDL) metadata and OCR text from within their own database systems, these files are now available for download. Please consult our API and Data Set page for more information.
Lee K, Carrillo Botero N, Novotny T. 'Manage and mitigate punitive regulatory measures, enhance the corporate image, influence public policy': industry efforts to shape understanding of tobacco-attributable deforestation Global Health. 2016 Sep 20;12(1):55-016-0192-6.
The percentage of deforestation caused by tobacco farming reached 4% globally by the early 2000s but was substantially higher in countries such as China (18 %), Zimbabwe (20 %), Malawi (26 %) and Bangladesh (>30 %). Transnational tobacco companies (TTCs) have argued that tobacco-attributable deforestation is not a serious problem, and that the industry has addressed the issue through corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives such as reforestation. The authors reviewed the tobacco industry documents as well as the existing literature on tobacco and deforestation in order to understand how the industry framed this issue and sought to undermine economic policy: by emphasizing the benefits of production in low and middle income countries, by blaming alternative causes of deforestation, and claiming successful forestation efforts on their part.
Key Documents from the UCSF Truth Tobacco Industry Documents:Today marks the 10th anniversary of the historic racketeering (RICO) case against Big Tobacco, United States of America, et al. v Philip Morris USA, Inc., et al. On Aug. 17, 2006, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler issued her final opinion, in which Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds, BATCo, American Tobacco, Lorillard, and Brown & Williamson were all found guilty of defrauding the American people by lying for decades about the health risks of smoking, manipulating nicotine content in cigarettes, and marketing to children.
The opinion weighs in at 1683 pages, and while we encourage you to settle down and read it in its fascinating entirety, the following excerpt sums it up perfectly:
"The seven-year history of this extraordinarily complex case involved the exchange of millions of documents, the entry of more than 1,000 Orders, and a trial which lasted approximately nine months with 84 witnesses testifying in open court. Those statistics, and the mountains of paper and millions of dollars of billable lawyer hours they reflect, should not, however, obscure what this case is really about. It is about an industry, and in particular these Defendants, that survives, and profits, from selling a highly addictive product which causes diseases that lead to a staggering number of deaths per year, an immeasurable amount of human suffering and economic loss, and a profound burden on our national health care system. Defendants have known many of these facts for at least 50 years or more. Despite that knowledge, they have consistently, repeatedly, and with enormous skill and sophistication, denied these facts to the public, to the Government, and to the public health community. Moreover, in order to sustain the economic viability of their companies, Defendants have denied that they marketed and advertised their products to children under the age of eighteen and to young people between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one in order to ensure an adequate supply of “replacement smokers,” as older ones fall by the wayside through death, illness, or cessation of smoking. In short, Defendants have marketed and sold their lethal product with zeal, with deception, with a single-minded focus on their financial success, and without regard for the human tragedy or social costs that success exacted."
Kessler, Final Opinion, pages 33-34
Besides imposing remedies upon the tobacco companies that included banning the use of terms such as "low tar," "light," "ultra light," "mild," and "natural", which had been used to mislead consumers about the health risks of smoking particular cigarette brands, Kessler’s Final Judgment and Order (shorter, at a mere 18 pages) extended the length of time the tobacco companies must publish on their websites their internal company documents produced in litigation. Those documents are housed permanently in UCSF Library’s Truth Tobacco Industry Documents Archive. To celebrate the anniversary, pay us a visit and browse some tobacco industry documents.
You can download zip files of the final judgment and order, final opinion, and other court documents from TTID’s “Lawsuits and Court Documents” webpage (scroll down to US v. Philip Morris, et al.)
Happy reading, and happy anniversary!
