This is Chapter 11 of my new book, working title “The Industry Playbook: Corporate Cartels, Corruption and Crimes Against Humanity” that is being published online chapter by chapter.
Nowadays, there over 14 million documents from tobacco companies online. Just one place where they can be found is the UCSF website, along with documents from other industries.
It could take many lifetimes to go through all this. And this is more than enough evidence to prove everything that is shared in this report.
But the facts are likely even worse than what is proven here because of the topic of this chapter.
The Verdict is In, summarizes this as such. “Defendants attempted to and, at times, did prevent/stop ongoing research, hide existing research, and destroy sensitive documents in order to protect their public positions on smoking and health, avoid or limit liability for smoking and health related claims in litigation, and prevent regulatory limitations on the cigarette industry.”
Judge Fitzpatrick ruled that Philip Morris had engaged “in an egregious attempt to hide information.’” This included not just having lawyers review industry materials for the very purpose of claiming privilege, but the destruction of documents as well.
We can see a couple of examples from other companies. In the 1960’s R.J. Reynolds established a research facility nicknamed the Mouse House to do research on the health effects of smoking.
In 1970, Philip Morris’ president complained to R.J. Reynolds about this work. So R.J. Reynold’s closed the Mouse House, fired all 26 scientists working there, and destroyed all the research. They didn’t want it to possibly get out.
Another document from Thomas Osdene, Philip Morris’ director of research, stated, “Ship all documents to Cologne…Keep in Cologne. OK to phone and telex (these will be destroyed)…We will monitor in person every 2-3 months. If important letters have to be sent please send to home—I will act on them and destroy.”
Ironically there was documentation of the destroying of documentation.
Internal correspondence from British American Tobacco (BAT) showed just how far this destruction of evidence went. It became policy! “[M]embers of the BAT Group, in furtherance of the Policy’s purposes, destroyed documents, routed them from one country or BAT facility to another, erased a useful litigation database as well as the fact that the documents it contained had ever existed as soon as the pre-existing judicial hold was lifted, and constantly exhorted their many employees to avoid putting anything in writing. All these activities were taken for one overriding purpose — to prevent disclosure of evidence in litigation.”
Here’s an example of one of their memos from June 1992, regarding another front group Healthy Buildings International (HBI).
“Please also note, more importantly, that this [is] an extremely sensitive document! HBI are [sic] currently under a considerable amount of investigation in the US about their connections with the industry. All references to companies in the quote has [sic] therefore been removed. Please do not copy or circulate this in any way and please destroy this fax cover sheet after reading! I know this sounds a little like James Bond, but this is an extremely serious issue for HBI.”
So yes, we have tons of evidence. But the facts are we are likely missing the worst of the worst!
Just think about it for a moment. If they’re not capturing information in the first place, or go on to destroy any and all records, it will very often be the most incriminating stuff.
What are the things you don’t dare to put on paper, but only discuss behind closed doors?
Furthermore, if your policy involves destroying evidence, you know you’re doing immoral or illegal things. And you’re specifically seeking to cover it up.
What that means is as bad as we know Big Tobacco acted, it is likely even worse.
Key Takeaways on Destroying Evidence
- Although there is plenty of damning evidence of what Big Tobacco did, the most damning of all evidence was likely destroyed never to see the light of day.
- Hiding and destroying research and evidence was actually the policy of many of the companies.
- If your policy involves destroying evidence, you know you’re doing immoral or illegal things. Is the cover up worse than the original crime?
- The fact that so much evidence has come out in court cases against Big Tobacco and other industries means that the amount of evidence destroyed by others has likely gone up. Or the most sensitive matters are discussed without any record at all ever existing. Learning from this history would lead to more conspiring behind closed doors off the record.
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Links to all published chapters of The Industry Playbook can be found here.
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Now just think about how much the drug companies and the fda are hiding.