Canadian tobacco firm destroyed evidence: researchers

Researchers said Thursday they uncovered evidence that a Canadian tobacco company destroyed scientific data it had decades ago showing that cigarettes were addictive and caused cancer.

The three Canadian researchers published copies of 60 internal documents, shredded by Imperial Tobacco Canada in 1992 to avoid embarrassment or liability, in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

The copies were uncovered in the files of parent firm British American Tobacco subsidiary.

The documents detail evidence from scientific reviews prepared by British American Tobacco's researchers, as well as dozens of original research studies between 1967 and 1984, such as the examination of the biological activity and carcinogenicity of tobacco smoke.

They describe research on cigarette modifications and toxic emissions, including how consumers adapted their smoking behavior to these modifications, and depict a comprehensive research program on the pharmacology of nicotine and its central role in smoking behaviour.

Some studies found second-hand smoke on rats was dangerous. Other research cast doubt on the comparative benefits of low-tar cigarettes, as smokers simply compensated by inhaling more intensely.

All the while, Imperial Tobacco Canada executives had denied that smoking was addictive or a health hazard, even testifying such at a parliamentary committee hearing in 1987.

The records are now likely to be used in lawsuits by three Canadian provinces seeking billions of dollars from tobacco firms for smoking-related health care costs.

(c) 2009 AFP

   

• danman5000 - Oct 16, 2009
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  They should have covered their tracks better, eh?
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• otto1923 - Oct 16, 2009
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  Tobacco is first and foremost a sociopolitical tool. Nothing binds people to this Society like the addiction which keeps them working, watching, voting, and buying to feed it. For where would addicts be without their dealers? Britain knew this- which is why growing tobacco there was illegal. Canada, the faithful colony, was just enforcing policy. Times change, policy has changed.
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• Nemo - Oct 17, 2009
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  I live next to a group home style house for people with emotional challenges. Seeing those poor folks sitting out in cold day after day in the winter to get their fix breaks my heart. Tobacco turns people into automatons. The stuff should be banned ASAP.
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• ironjustice - Oct 17, 2009
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  >>Seeing those poor folks sitting out in cold day after day in the winter to get their fix breaks my heart. Tobacco turns people into automatons. The stuff should be banned ASAP.
  ---------------
  Maybe we should do the same with booze or lottery tickets or gambling.
  I sure would like to see EVERYone of those partakers standing "out in the cold to get their fix" .. EVERYtime they "need that fix" ..
  Or NOW everytime one of those overweight fat people when THEY want a twinkie or a donut or a chocolate bar that they TOO waddle their fat arses out into the cold.
  Imho ..
  Those seven deadly sins and all ..
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• otto1923 - Oct 17, 2009
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  Smoker. You're off-topic. Your argument is spurious. Your disease is deluding you into thinking that it's normal. Breathing dirt because you can't stop is pathological. Tobacco companies issue lies in part because many of their executives are addicts and are similarly self-deluded.
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• Jimee - Oct 18, 2009
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  It still seems like mass murder for profit to me.
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