Health groups dismayed by news 'big tobacco' funded rightwing thinktanks
Two of Britain's leading free-market thinktanks have been criticised for taking money from "big tobacco". The Adam Smith Institute (ASI) and the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) have received tens of thousands of pounds in funding from leading tobacco companies.
Their admissions have dismayed health groups, which question the degree to which both organisations have influenced government thinking, especially on plain packaging for cigarettes. It also highlights the entrenched links between "big tobacco" and the libertarian strand of British politics that has been strengthened by the recent rise of Ukip, a party that has positioned itself firmly on the side of smokers.
Both thinktanks have criticised plans to force retailers to sell cigarettes in unbranded cartons, an initiative that cancer charities claim will curb smoking among the young, but which was recently abandoned by the government. They have also criticised anti-tobacco measures such as the ban on smoking in pubs, arguing that they represent an attack on civil liberties.
However, news that they have been receiving tobacco money has raised questions about whether World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines governing transparency on tobacco funding are being breached. British American Tobacco, the company behind brands such as Lucky Strike and Dunhill, has confirmed that in 2011 it gave the IEA £10,000, plus £1,000 in event sponsorship. Last year it donated a further £20,000 to the institute.
full: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/jun/01/thinktanks-big-tobacco-funds-smoking
And the CEOs of "big tobacco" had NO SHAME testifying before Congress (in one CEO's words)
