BACKGROUND NOTE: It's little known to the public, but the tobacco industry took
aggressive action against other businesses and industries that
voluntarily enacted policies to provide clean indoor air, eliminate
tobacco ads, offer employees incentives to quit smoking or any one of a
number of other steps that contributed to the de-institutionalization of
nicotine addiction.
The internal documents contain many examples of this aggression.
Today's document is an example of this.
The tobacco industry designed and funded a highly intricate plot that
they called "The Insurance Program," to bring public wrath and even a
congressional investigation of "discriminatory practices" down upon the
insurance industry after they started to offer non-smoker discounts.
The program was in its earliest stages when this document was written.
Quotes:
...Attached are two memoranda Peter prepared at my request. The first
proposes a program to discourage the anti-smoking practices of the
insurance industry by raising insurance industry executives',
regulators' and legislators' awareness of the discriminatory nature of
nonsmoker discounts. John Ingram, once a key "consumer rights" nemesis
of the insurance industry, would be the lynchpin of the program. Ingram
would created a consumer rights group on behalf of which he would speak
and publish to expose and eliminate the insurance industr's most common
discriminatory practices.
...At the same time, the proposal is expensive. Ingram demands no less
than $5,000 per month for six months plus expenses...
[Most interesting and revealing is the following note that is
handwritten on the front page of the memo:]
Susan --- Interesting. Might work if we could wrap smoker
discrimination into a package of other credible forms of
discrimination. Industry will not take this attack lightly and will
fight back fiercely. We would have to have a strong attack and a good
defense. MG 11/27
Anne Landman
American Lung Association of Colorado, West Region Office
Grand Junction
Type of Document: Internal Tobacco Institute Memorandum
From: John Lyons
To: Susan Stuntz and Martin J. Gleason
Title: Anti-Smoking Practices of the Insurance Industry
Date: November 22, 1989
Site: http://www.tobaccoinstitute.com
Bates No. TIMN0034730
URL:
http://www.tobaccoinstitute.com/getimg.asp?pgno=0&start=0&bool=TIMN0034730&docid=TIFL0543635/3636
