Philip Morris commissions study claiming benefits of smoking because it causes earlier deaths "The People of the Philip Morris Companies OEWorking to Make a Difference¹"
As we all recall, Philip Morris is the company which is spending millions of dollars on ads in newspapers and magazines and on television making sure we all know that they are giving money so that "Ardie Collingsworth can receive a hot meal, and a visitor, almost every dayŠ. because Philip Morris provides grants to eliminate waiting lists for Meals on Wheels programs across the countryŠ. to help people like Ardie, and thousands of additional seniors who might otherwise go hungry, have a regular lunch date."
The same Philip Morris Company which wrote those words for their full-page, glossy ad in a recent issue of The New Yorker magazine, fortunately had a little money left over to commission the Arthur D. Little International, Inc. consulting firm to conduct a study, which was very quietly released in the Czech Republic but not reprinted in any Philip Morris-funded ads in The New Yorker or the New York Times which examined "whether costs imposed on public finance by smokers [in the Czech Republic] are offset by tobacco-related tax contributions and external positive effects of smoking." The study found surprisingly, of course, inasmuch as Philip Morris is the maker of Marlboro cigarettes that a significant "external positive effect" of smoking is that "Public finance saved between 943 mil. CZK and 1,193 mil. CZK from reduced health-care costs, savings on pensions and housing costs for the elderly all related to the early mortality of smokers."
The Arthur D. Little report for Philip Morris which Philip Morris had provided to Czech government officials to show the value of cigarette smoking -- was leaked to the press by folks in the Czech Republic, which resulted last week in many news stories in the United States and elsewhere. Fortunately, Boston Globe syndicated columnist Ellen Goodman read the report and did a column on this, which is well worth reading, as she describes how this report fits with the Philip Morris public relations campaign to demonstrate that, at Philip Morris, "Things are Changing." Ms. Goodman concludes that "at Philip Morris, the more they change, the more they stay the same." Her column can be accessed at
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis/web/vortex/display?slug=goodman20&date=20010720&query=tobacco.
Bob Herbert of the New York Times also wrote an excellent column titled "Economics 101 at Big Tobacco U." analyzing the Philip Morris/A.D. Little report which is worth the read at
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/23/opinion/23HERB.html?searchpv=nytToday.
The full 22 page A.D. Little report for Philip Morris is available in pdf at
http://www.fpdunion.org/Tobacco/International/Economics/Philip%20Morris%20Czech%20Republic%20Study.pdf and is also worth reading; it¹s the Philip Morris version of "Believe It or Not."
Studies such as the A.D. Little/Philip Morris report come out periodically and the results take on a life of their own. Everyone, except apparently Philip Morris, admits that smoking-related deaths are not a "positive effect" of smoking, but there remains the insidious residue from these reports that makes some people think that there may be such cost savings. Reputable economists do not accept the A.D. Little/Philip Morris-type analyses. For references to and a link to highly regarded studies dealing with this issue, which debunk the A. D. Little/Philip Morris report, go to our web site at
http://www.tcsg.org/tobacco/cessation.htm and scroll down to the paragraphs titled "Freedom and Quality of Life" and "Smoking and the Compression of Morbidity."
And, always remember that "Philip Morris is Working to Make a Difference" shorter lives for a better economy (even if it isn¹t true in any way). But, thank goodness, "Ardie has a hot lunch date" because of Philip Morris; they never mention whether Ardie also has emphysema due to smoking and that¹s why she needs Meals on Wheels, but we all know that many of Ardie¹s friends are in that condition, thanks to Philip Morris. They have made a difference in millions of lives.
Jim Bergman
National Center for Tobacco-Free Older Persons
The Center for Social Gerontology
Ann Arbor, Michigan
jbergman@tcsg.org
http://www.tcsg.org/tobacco.htm