USA

WARNING: This site deals only with the corporate corruption of science, and makes no inference about the motives or activities of individuals involved.
    There are many reasons why individuals become embroiled in corporate corruption activities - from political zealotry to over-enthusiastic activism; from gullibility to greed.
    Please read the OVERVIEW carefully, and make up your own mind.

OPINION ONLY

These documents are mainly from the University of California, San Francisco's tobacco archives. As of 6 Jan 2011 this archive (known as the LTDL) had 61,644,067 pages in 11,648,177 documents. Of this total, 9,370,866 documents were mandated to be released from the files of the tobacco companies and their organisations under the Master Settlement Agreement signed by the Clinton Administration to absolve the industry executives from being charged under the RICO (Racheteering) Act.

This flood of documents is both revealing and confusing. Generally the researcher will need to build up years of background research knowledge to understand the subjects under discussion, know the nicknames and initials of those involved in the correspondence, and understand the implications of their activities. These documents stand out by largely needing little explanation.

These documents expose:

• the corruption of the tobacco corporations and their associations and subsidiaries
  
• the complicity of many of their 'coalition partners' ... generally other companies with similar poisoning and polluting problems.
  
• the participation of political parties, think-tanks, universities, foundations, policy institutes and the like, in the tobacco industry's campaigns of lies and deceit.
  
• the bribery of politicians through campaign contributions, honoraria, and brown-paper bags ... and how cheap their support is !
  
• the growth of scientific lobbying and science-for-sale entrepreneurship into a subsidiary of the legal and public relations professions.
  
• the new breed of 'think-tankers' (organisers, fellows and scholars) where the lobbying skills of these faux-academics and so-called researchers pass from one pseudo-institute to another.

These document also show how easily doctors, scientists and academics can be persuaded to act surrepticiously or openly as corporate lobbyists and public-relations promoters. How susceptible the more trusted members of our society are to financial persuasion, and how easy it is for many of them to justify distortions of their discipline to serve mercenary ends.

Read these and weep.

Some key documents

The Worldwide Scientific Affairs (WSA) division of Philip Morris was put together in the late 1990s by the (then) new CEO of Philip Morris International, Geoffrey Bible, in an attempt to consolidate various sections of both the domestic and international companies which specialised in scientific distortion and disinformation, This document outlines the experience and value of some of those scientists who had been recruited in Europe to secretly service the tobacco industry.

Philip Morris ran its own independent scientist-recruitment operation in Europe, quite separate to those of joint company efforts conducted through ICOSI, INFOTAB, CECCM and ITGA. This is a description of the operation from a corporate lawyer working for a rival company. It also discusses the role of the Kansas City law firm Shook Hardy & Bacon which operated globally for the tobacco industry doing any sort of litigation or under-hand activites required.

CONTRIBUTORS:srs2 jrtm GWSG