From Pence to Price: How Big Tobacco Gained Massive Influence Under Trump, Plans to Expand in Africa

Ron and I were both listening to Democracy Now! yesterday when we heard this. And we both stopped dead in our tracks and said, "WHAT??!!" ..... I find tears coming up in this moment. It is hard to be conscious in these times. And essential. We need to look in the face of evil and call it what it is - EVIL. This is Evil masquerading as a Christian. We truly need to call out again and again the truth that is being unveiled repeatedly before our very eyes. Time and again what we see is Greed masquerading as Love of County. It is all a con, a deadly serious and dangerous con. We need to commit, each and every one of us, to be conned no more! NO MORE! And commit instead to the truth - illuminating the truth, speaking the truth, following the threads of truth wherever they may go, and exposing that which is Not True. And certainly we can agree that to profess being a man of God while backing the cigarette industry - and the fossil fuel industry and Wall Street and the war machine and death to healthcare, etc., etc. - all ties which are toxic and deadly to millions, is the face of Evil. We can call it out. AND, most importantly, we can stand in the truth of our highest values, values which cherish truth and life, integrity and courage, compassion and generosity, light and love, and a higher good for all. - Molly

Politicians with deep ties to the tobacco industry now head the U.S. Health Department, the top attorney’s office and the Senate. In 2001, Mike Pence even wrote, "Despite the hysteria from the political class and the media, smoking doesn't kill."

From Democracy Now! transcript:

From Vice President Mike Pence to Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, a new Guardian report exposes how tobacco companies have gained unprecedented influence in Washington since the Trump administration came to power. Politicians with deep ties to the tobacco industry now head the U.S. Health Department, the top attorney’s office and the Senate, even as tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of death. The series also looks at how U.S. and British tobacco giants are trying to expand their global market, especially across Africa. We are joined by Jessica Glenza, health journalist for The Guardian.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: We end today’s show with a stunning new investigation by The Guardian that reveals how tobacco companies have gained unprecedented influence in Washington since the Trump administration came to power. The Guardian reports politicians with deep ties to the tobacco industry now head the U.S. Health Department, the top attorney’s office and the Senate, even as tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of death. Vice President Mike Pence has reportedly received $39,000 in donations from tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds and more than $60,000 from the tobacco company-aligned National Association of Convenience Stores, both among his top donors. Trump’s nominee for solicitor general, Noel Francisco, reportedly represented both R.J. Reynolds and its parent company, Reynolds American Inc. And Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price reportedly owned at least $37,000 in shares in Philip Morris International and Altria.

AMY GOODMAN: The Guardian series also looks at how U.S. and British tobacco giants are trying to expand their global market, especially across Africa. According to The Guardian, British American Tobacco, or BAT, and others have resorted to legal intimidation when Uganda and Kenya attempted to pass health warnings and regulations on tobacco products sold within their countries. This is a clip from a video accompanying the Guardian report.

NARRATOR: Tobacco is a deadly business. Cigarettes kill half of those who smoke. But this is not a story of an industry in decline. The tobacco industry is thriving. There are now an estimated 77 million smokers in Africa, and those numbers are predicted to soar. But African governments are not standing by. Many are bringing in regulations, like those that have saved millions of lives in the West. BAT and other multinational tobacco firms don’t seem to like that, and they’re fighting in the courts.

AMY GOODMAN: Meanwhile, Reuters recently obtained documents revealing Philip Morris’s campaign to subvert the world’s anti-smoking treaty. Reuters reviewed internal emails in which Philip Morris executives took credit for watering down anti-smoking measures at the biennial meeting of the tobacco control treaty. All this comes as a proposed $49 billion merger between Reynolds and British American Tobacco is currently underway.

Well, we’re joined right now by Jessica Glenza, health journalist for The Guardian, one of the lead reporters on this new series, "Tobacco: A Deadly business."

Jessica, welcome to Democracy Now!

JESSICA GLENZA: Thank you for having me.

AMY GOODMAN: Talk about the tobacco industry and its connections to the Trump administration and members of the Cabinet.

JESSICA GLENZA: Sure. So, I think—I always like to start off with something that really surprised me, which was the amount of lobbying that’s going on in D.C. and how the numbers, the dollar figures, don’t actually reflect the influence that these companies have. As a lot of people may know, there isn’t as much lobbying in D.C. by tobacco companies as there used to be. That’s reduced. But it’d be unfair to say that the amount of influence has reduced. As some people may know, Mike Pence, for example, infamously said in 2001 that smoking doesn’t kill. 

Please go here to continue the transcript or to watch the full segment: https://www.democracynow.org/2017/7/17/from_pence_to_price_how_big