Somehow, I shouldn’t have been surprised to hear that:
…the head of cigarette maker Philip Morris International Inc. told a cancer nurse Wednesday that while cigarettes are harmful and addictive, it is not that hard to quit. (Source: Boston.com.)
Yet, still, somehow I was.
CEO Louis C. Camilleri was confronted at Philip Morris’ annual shareholder meeting by a nurse who recited the grim statistics on tobacco deaths: 400,000 in the U.S. alone, and 5 million worldwide. The nurse also informed him that one of her patients had recently told her that
…of all the addictions he's beaten -- crack, cocaine, meth -- cigarettes have been the most difficult.
Camilleri answered her with a bit of a whine:
"We take our responsibility very seriously, and I don't think we get enough recognition for the efforts we make to ensure that there is effective worldwide regulation of a product that is harmful and that is addictive.”
No, Lou, I suspect you don’t get enough recognition for those efforts. Mostly because what most of us believe is that Big Tobacco is really up to ensnaring younger smokers (especially minorities) and sucking in those in the developing world who may not have the Surgeon General on their side.
While tobacco companies certainly have a right to peddle their wares, just as folks have a right to buy them, wouldn’t taking “responsibility very seriously” involve finding a way to exit this ugly, rotten business entirely? Maybe with an exit strategy that subsidized tobacco farmers to grow something else – how about hemp? – and stopped encouraging the poor to take up this nasty, dangerous habit to begin with.
Camilleri went on to add:
“Nevertheless, whilst it is addictive, it is not that hard to quit. ... There are more previous smokers in America today than current smokers."
Yes, indeed, and I also suspect that there are more dead smokers in America today than there are previous and current smokers.
Unlike Camilleri, who is a smoker – I suppose it would be really hard to justify heading up Philip Morris unless you were something of a Marlboro Man – I was never much for cigarettes.
Yes, when I waitressed, I did take up smoking – Marlboros, in fact – mostly because taking a cigarette break was an accepted, short duration escape from being on the floor. At Durgin-Park, a bunch of us kept packs of cigarettes in all the cubby holes, and grabbed one whenever we needed a bit of respite. When a customer started belly-aching, and the head waitress sent someone looking for you, it was entirely reasonable and acceptable to say, “Just let me finish by f-ing cigarette.”
For several years after I stopped waitressing, I would occasionally have a cigarette, mostly when in a bar or at a party with others who were smoking. For years after I stopped entirely, I still missed – maybe even craved – having a cigarette in one hand if I had a drink in the other.
And that’s from someone who never smoked enough to be addicted.
I know plenty of smokers who have had a terrible time quitting, and some (including my beloved brother Rich) who are backsliders.
After the shareholders’ meeting, Philip Morris:
….reiterated its position that "tobacco products are addictive and harmful."
And? Just what are you doing about it?
Morningstar analyst Philip Gorham said addictiveness is why tobacco is such a profitable business.
Precisely!
"It's in the interest of executives to give the impression that they don't want new smokers to take up smoking, that they believe that people who do, can quit, but the statistics tell another story," Gorham said. "I would prefer to see executives focus on what they have done to help smokers quit."
I might prefer that, too. But, in truth, why would the executives want smokers to quit, given that this would eat into their profits as surely as smoking eats into a smoker’s lungs. And as long as there are third world growth opportunities, and no end to population control in sight – lung cancer can take a long time to kill – this remains a pretty good business. Last year’s profits for Philip Morris grew 14.5 percent.
Take a puff of that springtime!
While profits were up, Camilleri’s compensation declined by 26%, and his package was a mere pittance at $21.7 million. Pension is part of his overall compensation. Wonder if he’ll live long enough to enjoy it. And wonder whether, if and when he’s diagnosed with lung cancer, emphysema, or smoking-related heart disease – or if it happens to someone near and dear to him – he’ll think it was all worthwhile, that his was a good and noble business to run, and that it was perfectly all right to make dismissive, cavalier comments about the harmful and addictive product he’s grown rich off of.
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Source for compensation info: Fox Business.
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