Gallaher

Gallaher, or the Gallaher Group as it is now known, is a tobacco company based in Ireland. American Tobacco acquired Gallaher in 1968 and turned it into a wholly-owned subsidiary. Gallaher sells cigarettes in Austria, Ireland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Gallaher does not sell cigarettes in the U.S. In 2009, Gallaher is part of JT International (Japan Tobacco International), whose headquarters are in Switzerland. JT international employs around 24,000 people and operates in over 80 markets.

Gallaher's main cigarette brands are Benson & Hedges (owned by Gallaher in the U.K.), Silk Cut, Mayfair, Memphis, Ronson and Sovereign.

Tobacco industry documents about Gallaher
A representative of Gallaher attended a secret meeting of the multinational cigarette companies held in the U.K. on February 17, 1988, where Philip Morris sought help from the other companies to carry out programs and efforts on the secondhand tobacco smoke issue to "keep the controversy alive."

Gallaher was also a member of the Tobacco Advisory Council (TAC), the trade group of the United Kingdom tobacco companies of Gallaher, British American Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco, and Rothmans Tobacco. TAC was the British equivalent of the Tobacco Institute in the United States. Minutes of a 1979 meeting of a subcommittee of the Tobacco Advisory Council (TAC) describe plans to set up the smokers' rights group FOREST ("Freedom Organisation for the Right To Enjoy Smoking Tobacco").

Gallaher was also a founding member of INFOTAB, the global group the tobacco industry formed to assist and coordinate battles against public health efforts to control tobacco worldwide. INFOTAB is the abbreviation for International Tobacco Information Incorporated. Among other objectives, INFOTAB's goals were to establish an "early warning" system for anti-smoking initiatives worldwide, to "track activities of pressure groups and international consumer unions" and "to take industry programs to the grass roots and municipal levels" to help the industry to prevail over public health efforts to control tobacco.

Contact
Gallaher Group Plc Members Hill Brooklands Road Weybridge Surrey KT13 0QU

Related Sourcewatch

 * John Luik ‎
 * Nick Harris ‎
 * Alison Carnwath ‎
 * Tom Keevil
 * John Gildersleeve - former chair