CALL FOR TOBACCO FIRMS WINDFALL TAX

Anger over claim that UK cigarette company knew about health risks of
smoking in 1970 JOHN INNES

SCOTTISH anti-smoking campaigners called for a windfall tax to be levied on
the tobacco industry yesterday after it was claimed that a British
cigarette company knew of the health risks posed by smoking as long ago as
1970.

An internal memo by Gallaher showed that research on beagles had proved the
risk of lung cancer "beyond reasonable doubt", according to the group
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH).

The group said the document would form a major weapon in the legal fight by
lung cancer victims in a case brought against Gallaher and Imperial Tobacco.

The memo, the first one to be discovered regarding a British company, was
prepared in April 1970 for the managing director of Gallaher. The company,
the maker of the Benson & Hedges and Silk Cut brands, is being sued by 53
smokers, including four Scots.

In the document, the general manager of research analysed experiments on
the dogs for the managing director and concluded that the work "proves
beyond all reasonable doubt the causation of lung cancer by smoke".

He said "the results of the research would appear to us to remove the
controversy regarding the causation of human lung cancer although it does
not help us directly with the problem of how to modify our cigarettes".

The research featured two experiments. In one, dogs had smoke piped into
their lungs, and, in the other, the animals breathed smoke through a mask.
The analysis said a feature of the former was that "practically every dog
which smoked suffered significantly from the effect of the smoke".

Maureen Moore, the chief executive of ASH in Scotland, said yesterday the
memo revealed the same level of knowledge about the ill effects of smoking
as similar documents coming out of the United States, which had also been
suppressed for years.

She said that Gallaher's failure to act on the research was disgraceful,
especially as the documents showed it was known since 1970 that smoking
caused lung cancer.

Ms Moore said that this, along with recent evidence on the effects of
passive smoking, proved that tobacco companies should be made accountable.

She said: "I hope this means the Government is going to be doing something
about tobacco companies. It should be looking at a windfall tax or some way
of taxing tobacco companies, and there should be an immediate curb on
tobacco advertising aimed at young people.

"They are making around 60 profit from each smoker every year, while the
Government is only putting less than 2 back to help people stop. Action
needs to be taken for this to be changed."

A solicitor, Martyn Day, who represents 50 people who are suing Gallaher
and Imperial Tobacco, said the document would prove highly significant for
forthcoming litigation.

Last month, the plaintiffs' case received a boost when judges ruled that
lawyers fighting it on a conditional "no-win, no-fee" basis should not have
to foot the estimated 9 million legal bill, even if they lose.

"It is the first document we have seen which shows us what was going on
behind the scenes at British tobacco companies," Mr Day said.

"It is a revelation, but we believe there are a lot more like it to come
out. We will be in court on 3 April asking for the tobacco companies to
release any documents in their possession relating to the case.

"Even now the issue of tobacco companies admitting that smoking causes
cancer is a very important one and part of our case is that they knew the
link even in the 1950s and should have taken action then. This document,
although it was written in 1970, is an indication of what the companies
knew."

A spokesman for the BMA said the document proved the tobacco industry was
untrustworthy. "This follows a series of documents from America showing
that the industry has been aware for several decades that smoking is
addictive and is linked to cancer.

"The industry is untrustworthy and cannot be believed."

A Gallaher spokesman said nobody from the company was available to comment.