Posted on 05/28/2004 10:48:17 AM PDT by wallcrawlr
Attorneys representing the state of Minnesota in its battle with Big Tobacco may have been subjected to unusual, and perhaps unethical, surveillance during visits to a British document depository under the control of British American Tobacco Co., according to a study released late Thursday.
Co-written by Dr. Richard Hurt, an addiction expert at the Mayo Clinic, the study in the Lancet, a British medical journal, says attorneys for British American Tobacco (BAT) kept track of documents requested during the period Minnesota attorneys were there and viewed the databases being searched.
The study says the surveillance continued after the Minnesota case went to trial in 1998, which resulted in a settlement that included a provision keeping the BAT depository in Guildford, outside London, open for 10 years.
Knowledge of what the plaintiffs' attorneys were reviewing could have provided BAT attorneys with insight into the strategies of their opponents, the study suggests.
Teams of attorneys from the Minneapolis law firm of Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi made numerous trips to Guildford on behalf of the state in the mid 1990s.
"We find it highly unreasonable for BAT to covertly monitor database searches," the study concludes.
BAT, which has a sizable international presence, also is accused of foot-dragging in producing internal company documents and making it difficult for the public, including academic researchers, journalists and other attorneys suing the tobacco industry, to have access to its documents.
Representatives of BAT's British headquarters could not be reached for comment.
Hurt, director of the Nicotine Dependence Center at the Mayo Clinic and the state's lead witness on nicotine addiction in the 1998 trial, co-wrote the study with Monique Muggli, an independent tobacco researcher and attorney Eric LeGresley.
The authors called for BAT to be removed as custodian of the Guildford depository.
A second and much larger depository remains in Minneapolis containing documents from U.S. cigarette manufacturers. Both were set up for attorneys in the Minnesota case and were opened to the public after the 1998 settlement. The Minnesota depository is run by a court-appointed third party.
Documents from the depositories are used in ongoing litigation against the tobacco industry and public health research.
"Given this new evidence, we assert that British American Tobacco is incapable of operating its depository in the spirit of the Minnesota settlement and should therefore be divorced from its operation," the three authors wrote in their study.
The authors also questioned the integrity of some of the records on file, noting revisions in documents and a missing audio tape that used less-than-complimentary descriptions of potential new smokers in a marketing meeting.
One of the altered marketing documents initially referred to potential new users as "illiterate, low-income 16-year-olds" but was changed to refer to 18-year-olds.
An audio tape reviewed in 2001 and again in 2004 about marketing in emerging countries was found to be missing several passages, including one in which an executive said: "If you just say, this is a cheap cigarette for you dirt poor little black farmers ... they're not going to buy it." A complete tape subsequently was produced upon request.
Newly produced documents indicate that during the period from 1996, when the Minnesota case was heavy in the discovery process, through 2001 a variety of surveillance techniques were used, including cameras and a two-way mirror to monitor the work of visitors, the study reported.
Documents uncovered during the study indicated that co-author LeGresley was physically tracked on camera outside of the depository and that use of his cell phone was observed.
Former Attorney General Hubert Humphrey III said one of the reasons Minnesota resisted attempts in the mid 1990s to be part of a multistate settlement was over the issue of document access, which would be restricted as part of the national settlement terms.
He said the BAT depository should be run like the Minnesota depository.
"This was a much more closed situation," Humphrey said. "Many of the most important documents are there and they have impact globally."
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
This absolutely infuriates me, Gabz.
How dare these public school apparatchiks interfere with parental authority and destroy trust between a child and his parent?
These socialist, brainwashing, intellectually barren, useful idiot SOB's are cheerfully hacking away at the foundations of the country.
But I guess as long as their pensions are safe - hey, who cares? It's for "the children."
Evil bastards and probably too stupid to realize it.
Head Start is not the public school here.
She's not getting this in school, thankfully.
With that said - I agree wholeheartedly with everything else you are saying!!!!!
You're killing me..............
Your post really raised my hackles up.
When my grandaughter was in kindergarten she left school crying,saying,"Grammy is going to die". When my daughter questioned her she found out they had discussed the dangers of smoking in KINDERGARTEN!
My daughter,a non smoker,called the school and gave them hell for getting into something like that at such a young age.
I understand exactly what you are saying.
I would have done exactly what your daughter did, had it been in school where she got this from. But in this case the school can't be blamed, because the one that said it to her did not get it from school.
As far as I am concerned these anti-smoker-anti-drinker messages being shoved down the throats of children is counter productive.
There are a lot of things that only adults can do and no one questions adults who do them in front of children, do they? Of course not. Guess what? Smoking and drinking should be treated the same way.
this crapola has nothing to do with children and everything about control.
You're too much!!!!!
Here's one for the gals.........
Good Grief woman - now you want me to lose my dinner??????
HEY! Now I owe you both lunch AND DINNER?????
You're too funny!!!!!
sometimes............... :) When I don't get too "serious" about everything.......
LOL!
hehe!
" sometimes............... :) When I don't get too "serious" about everything......."
Ahhhh. On the serious side, I'll let you in on a little something. I've been fat and uncomfortable before. It's a killer in the middle of life or later, especially when the feet start getting numb, dizziness occurs, or something like that. Also, it's very difficult to avoid smoking for those who can't get much sleep (military service, late shifts, other problems).
We all have blemishes and the like. I don't really look down on anyone because of physical problems. We laugh as much as we can, try to be healthy, and live as long as we can. IMO, too much sensitivity is a killer, too. It's no more than another vanity trap.
Oh! GROSS!!
You sure have that right!!
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