Greenhouse gases and smoking bans

Current Europe-Wide Threats to Public and Workplace Smoking

This 1995 Philip Morris (PM) document lists six "principal threats" that European initiatives posed to the tobacco industry. Listed among the "threats" are Europe's energy-saving programs designed to reduce admissions of greenhouse gases:

"[T]he EU and many Member States have undertaken to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Among other things, this means reduction in the uses of energy. DG XVII [Directorate General for Energy & Transport] has a number of programs designed to encourage energy-saving..."

Initiatives to reduce energy use threaten the tobacco industry because the industry pushes ventilation as the solution to problems caused by indoor smoking (more ventilation = more energy use). This puts energy (and greenhouse gas) reduction programs directly in conflict with the tobacco industry's efforts to preserve the social acceptability of smoking.

The authors of this document, Jennifer Green and Charles Lister (of the law firm Covington and Burling's London office) warn PM that smoking restrictions will meet several important goals of the European Commission:

"...[I]mproved indoor air and energy saving are generally competing goals...but the two goals are arguably consistent in one important respect -- both would arguably be served by additional smoking restrictions. You should expect that it will be argued that public and workplace smoking restrictions both contribute to improved [indoor air quality] AND reduce the higher ventilation rates (and energy usages) demanded for smoking areas."

Thus, smoking restrictions are a simple, inexpensive way to help meet a host of goals: saving energy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving indoor air quality.

Title: R3 (Current Europe-Wide Threats to Public and Workplace Smoking) Date 19950726 Type REPORT, OTHER Bates 2050984190/4210 Collection Philip Morris Pages 21 URL: http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/bdy42f00