Operation Berkshire
Encyclopedia
Operation Berkshire is the name of a program initiated in 1976 by seven of the world's major tobacco companies aimed at promoting "controversy" over smoking and disease.
At the invitation of the Chairman of Imperial Tobacco, the CEOs of the tobacco companies met in secret in June 1977 in the United Kingdom "to develop a defensive smoking and health strategy, to avoid our countries and/or companies being picked off one by one, with a resultant domino effect." They agreed to create a front organization, the International Committee on Smoking Issues (ICOSI) (renamed the International Tobacco Information Centre, INFOTAB, in 1981), which operated through an internationally coordinated network of national manufacturers' associations
to retard measures for tobacco control.
The purpose of ICOSI/INFOTAB is best described in a document entitled "Conspiracy Notebook" produced by Brown & Williamson
in the context of the US racketeering lawsuit against tobacco companies:
The conspiracy was discovered in November 1998, as part of the Master Settlement Agreement
between the U.S. tobacco industry and various states' attorneys general, U.S. tobacco companies were compelled to publicly disclose approximately 40 million pages of previously confidential documents. During the course of the Minnesota Attorney General litigation (State of Minnesota, et al.) the district court ordered the domestic parties to establish a document depository in Minnesota for the documents produced in that action.
Operation Berkshire was created as a unified defensive strategy among international tobacco companies. The code name was initially suggested in a confidential memorandum to the then President of Philip Morris International
, Hugh Cullman, by the then Chairman of Imperial Tobacco in the UK, A. G. (Tony) Garrett.
The plan formed when major tobacco companies met together to form a unified defense against anti-smoking legislation. They agreed that they would not voluntarily make certain concessions about smoking and, if legislation was passed to force them, they would agree to sue. In particular, they decided that they would not concede the point that smoking has adverse health effects and would instead attempt to create controversy, lest they be held legally liable for the deaths of smokers. They also formulated coordinated activities to promote the social acceptability of smoking.
At the invitation of the Chairman of Imperial Tobacco, the CEOs of the tobacco companies met in secret in June 1977 in the United Kingdom "to develop a defensive smoking and health strategy, to avoid our countries and/or companies being picked off one by one, with a resultant domino effect." They agreed to create a front organization, the International Committee on Smoking Issues (ICOSI) (renamed the International Tobacco Information Centre, INFOTAB, in 1981), which operated through an internationally coordinated network of national manufacturers' associations
to retard measures for tobacco control.
The purpose of ICOSI/INFOTAB is best described in a document entitled "Conspiracy Notebook" produced by Brown & Williamson
Brown & Williamson
Brown & Williamson was an American tobacco company and subsidiary of the giant British American Tobacco, that produced several popular cigarette brands. It became infamous as the focus of investigations for chemically enhancing the addictiveness of cigarettes...
in the context of the US racketeering lawsuit against tobacco companies:
The American tobacco industry, working with its counterparts in other countries around the world, organised ICOSI, later renamed INFOTAB for the purpose of coordinating the worldwide response of the industry to anti-tobacco activities. INFOTAB was used to formulate and publish a consensus position on the part of the
industry. It monitored anti-tobacco organizations. It created an information service for the purpose of accumulating and disseminating intelligence on anti-smoking activities. It was used to identify and enlist allies around the world for the tobacco industry, to perform studies and research whose results would be helpful, and to rebut data and allegations from anti-smoking forces. The organization worked closely with TI [the Tobacco Institute, an industry front organization disbanded in 1998] in carrying out this mission.
The conspiracy was discovered in November 1998, as part of the Master Settlement Agreement
Master Settlement Agreement
The Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement was entered in November 1998, originally between the four largest US tobacco companies and the attorneys general of 46 states...
between the U.S. tobacco industry and various states' attorneys general, U.S. tobacco companies were compelled to publicly disclose approximately 40 million pages of previously confidential documents. During the course of the Minnesota Attorney General litigation (State of Minnesota, et al.) the district court ordered the domestic parties to establish a document depository in Minnesota for the documents produced in that action.
Operation Berkshire was created as a unified defensive strategy among international tobacco companies. The code name was initially suggested in a confidential memorandum to the then President of Philip Morris International
Philip Morris International
Philip Morris International is an international tobacco company, with products sold in over 160 countries. In 2007, it held a 15.6% share of the international cigarette market outside of the USA and reported revenues net of excise taxes of $22.8 billion and operating income of $8.9 billion.Until...
, Hugh Cullman, by the then Chairman of Imperial Tobacco in the UK, A. G. (Tony) Garrett.
The plan formed when major tobacco companies met together to form a unified defense against anti-smoking legislation. They agreed that they would not voluntarily make certain concessions about smoking and, if legislation was passed to force them, they would agree to sue. In particular, they decided that they would not concede the point that smoking has adverse health effects and would instead attempt to create controversy, lest they be held legally liable for the deaths of smokers. They also formulated coordinated activities to promote the social acceptability of smoking.
See also
- Project SCUMProject SCUMProject SCUM was a plan proposed by R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company to sell cigarettes to members of the "alternative lifestyle" areas of San Francisco, in particular the large number of gay people in the Castro and homeless people in the Tenderloin...
- Master Settlement Agreement
- "Truth" ad campaignTheTruth.comTheTruth.com is an anti-smoking campaign in the United States. The campaign is run by the American Legacy Foundation, which was founded under the terms of the Master Settlement Agreement, between the US tobacco companies and 46 US states and 5 territories...
Other links
- Glantz, Stanton A., John Slade, Lisa A. Bero, Peter Hanauer, and Deborah E. Barnes, editors The Cigarette Papers. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1996. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft8489p25j/
- Ciresi MV, Walburn RB, Sutton TD. Decades of deceit: Document discovery in the Minnesota tobacco litigation. William Mitchell Law Review 1999;25:477–566.
- State of Minnesota, et al. v. Philip Morris, Inc., et al., No. C1-94-8565 (2d Dist. Minn.) (Ramsey County).
- Glantz SA. The truth about big tobacco in its own words. BMJ 2000;321:313–4.
- Tobacco Archives http://www.tobaccoarchives.com/