The tobacco industry in Asia: revelations in the corporate documents

cholarship on tobacco industry documents has concentrated on the west.There have been two previous supplements on the documents published by Tobacco Control, which focused on the USA in 2002 1 and on Australia in 2003, 2 as well as many individual papers.Hirschhorn has assembled a list of all publications that deal principally with the documents. 3his supplement contains the first collection of papers addressing Asian documents, which include diverse countries such as Cambodia, China, Hong Kong SAR, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, with topics ranging from smuggling and subversion of proposed legislation to tobacco industry youth campaigns (see below).This is not just an issue of academic inclusion; these articles represent a rare resource enabling governments, health advocates, and the media to gain an unprecedented insight into the minds, motives, strategies, tactics, and data of the tobacco industry.Appreciation of tobacco industry strategies over the past decades is essential for Asian countries to formulate an appropriate legislative and public policy response. 4t might be argued that some of the information revealed could be classified as ''normal business practices'' in the marketing strategy of any company.However, the fundamental harmfulness of the product taken with the industry's lobbying and public relations tactics makes these industry documents compelling.Obstacles to tobacco control in Asia that were once puzzling may now be understood.The industry infiltrated some of the most respected scientific institutions (such as universities), and scientists who argued against the scientific evidence on the damaging effects of tobacco are now known to have been paid to do so. 5hese tactics of the industry have, in general, been highly successful.In spite of decades of knowledge, World Health Assembly resolutions, World Health Organization plans including five year Regional Action Plans for Asia since 1990, numerous regional and national conferences and declarations, the number of smokers is increasing in Asia, more smokers are dying, children are still taking up smoking, 6 including more girls, 7 and the economic costs are both substantial and escalating. 8 note of caution needs to be sounded.These documents inevitably portray only the industry perspective and thus may convey glowing reports of successful meetings and negotiations, in particular where information was relayed back to headquarters.The other party at the meeting, for example, a government official, might report a quite different perspective on what was discussed, or the conclusion of the meeting.Activists might feel that their important role is ignored in the documents, although there is a grudging compliment from the industry that ''…the anti-smoking lobby has made significant gains in all countries throughout the region''.And, in spite of these efforts by the tobacco industry, a raft of ii1 www.tobaccocontrol.com