Elisha kimutai mbasu

 Tobacco Name: Institution: INTRODUCTION Tobacco is one of the most important cash crop in America and is native to the North and South American continents. Explorers in the 15th and 16th century saw Native Americans smoking the leaves of the crop as medicine and a hallucinogen and introduced it to Europe. The crop was adopted by the rich and poor for its believed medicinal properties. At first Kings and religious leaders banned the use of tobacco but its economic importance forced wide acceptance. It is from Europe that the crop spread to the rest of the world including Asia and Africa and later became foundation for the growth of the American economy. In the 19th century, mechanization and mass marketing made tobacco production a major industry. Through the years, the use of tobacco has been associated with negative health, social and environmental effect thus the laws to regulate the industry. This paper examines tobacco industry, its history, corporate stakeholders, social economic and political influence and also the ethics and social issues surrounding the tobacco industry. HISTORY Tobacco (Nicotiana tubacum and N.rustica) is valued for its leaves that are chewed, sniffed or smoked. The plant grows natively in North and South America and belongs to the same family as potato, pepper and poisonous nightshade. The growing of tobacco began about 6000 BC by Native Americans. American Indians used tobacco for religious and medicinal purposes believed to cure all ailment and used as painkiller for toothache and wound dressing (academic.udayton.adu, n.d). In 1492, European explorer Christopher Columbus was offered dried tobacco leaves as a gift by Native Americans on arrival to the Americas. European sailor introduced tobacco to Europe and became popular for healing properties. In 1571, Spanish doctor Nicolas Monardes claimed tobacco cures 36 health problems. In 1600s the popularity of tobacco made its use as money. In 1760, P. Lorillard Tobacco Company was established in New York City to process tobacco cigars and snuff. Tobacco funded the American Revolution war of 1776 to offset loans borrowed from France. In 1847, Phillip Morris sold hand rolled Turkish cigarette. In 1849. J. E. Liggett and Brother was established in St. Louis, Missouri (academic.udayton.adu, n.d). In 1875, R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company produced chewed tobacco. The WW1 exploded cigarette use by soldiers. Also Marlboro, Lucky Strike and Camel brands begun to market to women and tripled the number of female users from-. In WW2 -) cigarette were included in soldiers food rations. In 1950s, studies of negative health hazard of tobacco made tobacco companies to introduce low tar and filtered products. The 1964 General Surgeon’s report on smoking introduced government regulation to sales and advertisement of cigarettes. By 1990, smoking in domestic flights in America was banned. Currently evidence show nicotine in tobacco is addictive but many tobacco industries continue to make sales all over the world (academic.udayton.adu, n.d). CORPORATE STAKEHOLDERS AND RESPONSES TO ISSUES Tobacco industry is a multibillion dollar industry for cigarette manufacturers and related industries including cigars, pipes, chewing tobacco, pan masalas, mint gums, mouth fresheners, advertising agencies, TV channels pharmaceuticals and government that reaps billions in taxes, all benefiting directly or indirectly from addicted smokers (Quora.com, n.d). Despite a plunge from 42% to 15% from 1965 – 2015 in US adult smoking rate due to tough antismoking regulation and higher taxation top thriving industries include Altria, Reynolds, and Vector Group. Altria’s Marlboro brand tops American market with 44% of the market. The rest of the market is shared by Reynold’s Camel, Pall Mall and Natural American Spirit brands, and Vector Group’s Pyramid and Eve brands (usatoday.com, 2017). Public awareness of health hazard of smoking intensified when the subject received national publicity. Surgeon General’s report on smoking and health of 1964 reported the health hazard of smoking. This led to the removal of cigarette TV ads in 1965 in Britain and 1971 in USA. Health warnings on cigarette packs were introduced in 1966. As a response to negative press about tobacco, major tobacco companies diversified their products. Phillip Morris bought into Miller Brewing Company and General Foods Corporation. RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company dropped Tobacco Company to become RJ Reynolds Industries, and invested in aluminum and Nabisco of Oreo fame. The American Tobacco Industry dropped Tobacco to become American Brands, Inc. The tobacco industries also began to market heavily outside USA (academic.udayton.adu, n.d). The lawsuits of 1980s led to restriction of smoking in all public places. Many litigations continued on the fact that tobacco industries knew smoking and nicotine were addictive, manipulated tobacco products to make them more addictive, and claimed “Light and low tar” products were healthier despite knowing it was false (cancer.org, 2017). The tobacco companies were ordered to publish corrective statement in order to fully inform the public and help prevent future harm from the health problems caused by smoking and passive smoke and the addictive nature of smoking and nicotine (cancer.org, 2017). ROLE OF INDUSTRY IN SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL SETTING Tobacco companies’ profits still boom despite government regulation and declining smoking rates. Since 2009, shares in tobacco companies have risen by 351% (Aljazeera.com, 2017). Regulations demanding display of warning labels and heavy taxation has reduced the number of smokers but has not affected profitability. Prices of cigarette around the world differ due to differences in taxation. However, addiction to nicotine prompt consumers to pay the high prices for cigarettes (Aljazeera.com, 2017). Their knowledge of addiction prompts diversification to other nicotine products like E-cigarettes. The market of E-cigarette has grown from $50 million in 2005 to $7.5 billion in 2016. The government continues to generate plenty of revenues due to heavy taxation. In 2009, States made $24 billion taxing cigarette and $8.8 billion in settlement payments from tobacco industries. The political justification for taxing smoking is for health purposes but the government requires the revenue (dailycaller.com, 2011). Illegalizing the cigarette results in a loss of government revenue. Big Tobacco is thriving, profitable and increasing its sales. Five major companies dominating the global tobacco trade includes Phillip Morris International (PMI), British American Tobacco (BAT), Japan Tobacco, Imperial Brands and Altria. In 2016, they all shipped 2.27 trillion cigarette making sales of $150 billion. The total profit were $35 billion and investors made $19 billion (theguardian.com, 2017). US cigarettes are relatively cheap compared to other market hence companies can raise prices without losing customers. According to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), Big Tobacco contributes over $1.6 Million annually to federal candidates. The money is used to buy government officials to influence the law. The Big Tobacco industry interests and that of public health policy conflicts, therefore they buy lobbyists to foster their interests (ash.com, 2014). Politicians from both political parties, Republicans and Democrats alike, accept tobacco industry campaign contributions and in- election cycle, 46 states had candidates benefiting from Big Tobacco contributions (ash.com, 2014). The World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) requires government to limit Big Tobacco’s influence on public health policy. FTCT guidelines require prohibition of tobacco industry’s contribution to a political party, candidate and campaigns (ash.com, 2014). However US is one of the few countries yet to ratify to FTCT hence Big Tobacco continues to promote the interest by buying political influence and promote their interest. In the social setting, tobacco use disproportionately affects many marginalized populations including people in low income communities racial and ethnic minorities, LGBT individuals ant those mentally ill, mainly targeted by the tobacco industry (truthinitiative.org, 2017). Black people smoke at similar rate as Whites but more likely to die than Whites due to tobacco related illnesses. American Indians and Alaska natives smoke more than any ethnicity. Tobacco strategic marketing aim to appeal to racial and ethnic communities. Menthol cigarettes which are easier to smoke and hard to quit are mainly marketed to Blacks. 85% of Black smokers use menthol cigarettes 3 times higher than white smokers (truthinitiative.org, 2017). Tobacco companies sponsor activities related to cultural traditions including Mexican Rodeos, American/Indian Powwows, Chinese New Year, Cinco de Mayo, and events related to Black History Month, Asia/Pacific American Heritage Month and Hispanic Heritage Month (truthinitiative.org, 2017). Moreover, tobacco retailers are more in areas with larger Black, Hispanic and low income populations. Big Tobacco spent over $8 Billion in 2014 for point-of-sale promotions in store advertising, discounts, and product displays behind check-out containers. Stores in Black residents display more tobacco ads inside and outside the store and have more advertised and cheaper menthol cigarettes. Hispanic areas have more tobacco retailers and tend to sell tobacco products to underage customers (truthinitiative.org, 2017). DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL ETHICS In an effort to reduce smoking, the government introduced tobacco tax. Tobacco taxation contributes significant benefit to the population by protecting health by deterring the uptake of smoking by the youth by promoting quitting and by reducing harm from exposure to Second Hand Smoke (SHS). However, the same tax contributes to financial strain to among the poor where smoking dominates. The benefit of reducing SHS exposure to non-smokers and failure to return to smoking due to high prices of cigarette is justifiable. However, the tax is ethically unjustifiable for smokers who wish to continue to smoke or are unable to quit hence hindering their autonomy (Wilson et al., 2005). Advertisement of tobacco products is unethical. Scientific evidence showing the harmful nature of tobacco makes promotion of nicotine product difficult to justify. It is true that adverts do not cause illnesses and death but the adverts encourage consumers of all ages to purchase the product (Roberts, 2015). For tobacco companies, there exists ethical dilemmas. Firstly, the ethical dilemma of business vs. health. Opening and developing of tobacco business in Third World and other markets such as China pauses a dilemma since tobacco kills millions annually. A second ethical dilemma is employment in the tobacco industry vs. impoverishment due to malnutrition caused by use of significant household budget to buy tobacco by poor families, erosion of the land, as trees are cut down to provide space for growing tobacco (Richmond, 2006). ECOLOGICAL AND NATURAL RESOURCES Tobacco threatens many of the earths’ resources. Smoke from tobacco products pollutes the air, plantation of tobacco causes deforestation and climate change while tobacco processing produces waste. Commercial tobacco production takes place on massive scale. In 2012, 7.5 metric tons of leaves produced 4.3 Million hectares of agricultural land in 124 nations (WHO, 2017) mainly in low income countries to reduce the cost of production. Tobacco uses intensive amount of pesticide that pose dangers to environment and farmers health causing respiratory and skin problems. Tobacco uses high amount of nutrients thus rapidly depletes soil fertility necessitating the use of fertilizers. Tobacco growing is also associated with land degradation and desertification in form of sol, erosion, reduced soil fertility and productivity, and disruption of water cycles (WHO, 2017). Deforestation is as a direct result of tobacco growing and curing as forests are cleared for tobacco plantation and wood is burned to cure tobacco leaves. In Malawi for example, 70% of national deforestation is attributed to tobacco farming (WHO, 2017). Greenhouse emissions due to deforestation is an indirect effect of tobacco growing. The economic effects of growing tobacco are surpassed by adverse environmental and economic impacts associated with loss of resources such as forest plants and animal species and ill-health among famers handling chemicals used in the process. Tobacco manufacturing is one the most environmentally damaging process. From 1999 it is estimated worldwide tobacco manufacturing produce approximately 2.26 billion kilograms of solid waste and 209 million kilograms of chemical waste. In 2002 USA tobacco industry alone released 16 million metric tons of CO2 equivalents (WHO, 2017). The manufacture of cigarettes uses large amount of energy, water and other resources, and large amounts of waste are generated including chemicals, energy, metals, effluent left overs and chemical additives. Tobacco manufacturing uses intense amounts of water for tobacco treatment, making inks and dyes in packaging, and tobacco pulp processing. If tobacco processing is located in dry areas they stress the local water reserves (WHO, 2017). In areas where smokeless tobacco like Gurkhas and Pan Masalas are manufactured, indiscriminate use of plastics sachets pauses a serious environmental effect. Overall use of plastics and agricultural chemicals directly affect humans by finding ways in the food chain through marine animals. Discarded cigarettes cause 340-680 million kilos of litter worldwide containing up to 7,000 toxic carcinogenic chemicals which end up in drains, streets and water (WHO, 2017). SOCIAL ISSUES Tobacco growing and use is associated with poverty. Users are mainly the poor and vulnerable. The growth of the industry is attributed to its continued targeting to the poor and the addictive nature of tobacco (WHO, 2017). Large tobacco producing countries experience food insecurity. Food insecurity is due to declining land quality. Smoking contributes to world hunger since tobacco diverts huge amount of land from producing food to producing tobacco. Land use denies 10-20 million people food and governments have to bear the cost of food imports since farmland is diverted for tobacco production. Contract farming is a common practice in many tobacco producing nations. Government endorse such program aims to attract foreign investors, foreign exchange and to uplift small famers. However since the large multinational companies and small scale farmers make the agreement most burden is borne by the famer. The contracts specify the grading system for the leaves and price hence famers have little negotiation power. Tobacco industry profits from such as they intentionally cheat the famers in grading and underpricing leaves. Inputs and services come at stiff prices beyond affordability of the famers. Since the farmers are paid at the end of the growing season many are left in debt to tobacco companies or intermediate traders and are forced to return to growing tobacco the following year to offset debts (WHO, 2017). Due to pressure from the public smoke free laws have been passed over the years. First was the ban of smoking on flights in the 1980’s to minimize SHS and to lower the risk of fire hazards. This was followed by bans and criminalization of smoking in specific public places, restaurants, work and universities in different states and cities. However the federal government has never passed smoking ban laws attributed to massive lobbing by powerful tobacco companies that target to hinder legislation that may harm their bottom line. Despite criminalization of cigarettes sales to people below 18 years, millions of cigarettes are smoked by minors every year (Study.com,n.d). Minors are also influenced more by social media, movies and passive role models. Photographs of celebrities smoking or movies with dominant smoking figures appeals to the minors and get the idea that smoking leads to the fame attention or power they desire (Study.com,n.d). In this way tobacco companies targets minors. People with mental health concerns such as depression and anxiety disorders are likely to take up smoking hence the need for proper counselling and community outreach efforts. Social or daily routines influence smokers. Smokers with an established set time period or activity during which they smoke such as being with friends or work have difficult in quitting because such activities trigger the urge to smoke due to addiction (Study.com,n.d). INDUSTRY’S SOCIAL RESPONSIVENESS Tobacco industry’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) promotes the opinion that firms should strive to be profitable, law abiding, ethical and good corporate citizens. However it is contradictory to claim tobacco companies are ethical as they sale products that kill the users. FCTC requires implementation and enforcement of a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. However tobacco’s CSR do not foster good corporate citizenship as they claim but aims to boost profits and drive companies self-interests. The CSR gives the impression that tobacco companies are responsible and concerned of their customer’s satisfaction. However it deviates negative press and creates positive public view of the industry and associated issues without changing the company’s behavior (premiumtimesng.com, 2018). The industry continuously seek and use political influence to help weaken tobacco control legislations. The industries also gains access to the youth by sponsoring youth anti-smoking campaigns but they are researching teen’s attitude toward smoking. Philanthropic CSR tactics employed by tobacco companies include education. Their continued support for educational programs eventually deny children education as parents spend money on tobacco or when the children leave school to walk in tobacco farms and industries (premiumtimesng.com, 2018). In Malaysia big tobacco donates money to poor students and families in show of concern but tobacco is directly linked to poverty. Tobacco companies also continue to practice farming in regions with no education and poverty, where they continue to promote debt and poverty, while making profits and utilizing child labor. In my rating tobacco companies have failed the CSR test. Profitability of big tobacco is attributable to selling lethal products. They continuously advertise their commitment to CSR outlawing child labor, use of renewable energy, admitting to dangers of smoking and promotion of smoke free world. However they have failed to meet the CSR of pursuing profits without deception or fraud. Tobacco companies continue to influence international tobacco control policies despite their product killing up to 7 million people annually. From 1950’s cigarette companies have known tobacco as addictive and harmful but continued to promote. In the 1990’s cigarette companies encouraged smuggling in order to justify reduction in tobacco taxes. According to (Savedoff, 2017) some companies oppose the policies of plain packaging of cigarettes by funding nations such as Honduras, Cuba and Indonesia to contest such policies at World Trade Organization(WTO). Big tobacco has failed to stop marketing to the youth in India. Therefore their sponsorship to youth anti-smoking campaigns have created a positive image of smoking and associate it with maturity. The bottom-line is that CSR should be banned since they work in favor of tobacco industries. CSR helps tobacco industries gain political influence, normalize tobacco to children and increase youth approval to smoking. They undermine the efforts to expose the ills of the tobacco companies preying on vulnerable populations. It works for the tobacco industry in building good will with policy makes and the public, countering negative attention associated with idts deadly products, and defusing opposition from tobacco control advocates (premiumtimesng.com, 2018). The philanthropic and sponsorships projects by Big Tobacco are minute compare to the harm cause to the society by tobacco use. SAINT. LEO UNIVERSITY CORE VALUES VS. SMOKING St. Leo University embrace the six core values of excellence, community, respect, personal development, responsible stewardship and integrity. In defiance to the value of excellence and character building, big tobacco lacks character as they sell and promote products that destroy lives, health and cause negative economic burden to users and nations. Big tobacco have not embraced the value of fostering community belonging, unity and interdependence since they continuously cheat contracted famers in third world, and also sell addictive products so that they make huge profits out of their addictiveness. Big tobacco does not also respect people’s dignity since they sell mainly to the poor and minorities through deceptions and exploitations. Big tobacco do no promote personal development of mind, body and spirit since they know their products are addictive , lethal and cause lung cancer. Big tobacco are not responsible stewards since they contribute very little to community development. Profits from big tobacco are not used to benefit growers, users and those attempting to quit and continue to fail in their CSR strategies. Finally big tobacco do not possess integrity and do not promote honesty and justice. They have falsified reports on addictive nature of cigarettes, e-cigarettes and have attempted to discredit WHO reports. They continuously buy politicians and scientists to work for their cause. CONCLUSION Smoking is considered simply a healthy issue. It is true that tobacco causes serious detrimental effects on health. However smoking is more than just a health issue, affecting political and social environments. Big Tobacco continuously take advantage of the addictive nature of their products to create more demand by targeting the youth, the vulnerable and the poor. Despite the ban on comprehensive advertisement of tobacco due to research indicating negative effects, Big Tobacco continues to grow by sponsoring events of the vulnerable. To meet the growing demand they have shifted to third world to find more supply of tobacco leaves and also to establish new markets. Such raises social and ethical issues. This paper has examined the history of tobacco, the corporate stakeholders, responses to issues raised on tobacco industries and the economic, social and political role big tobacco plays. The paper also examined domestic and international ethics associated with tobacco, the ecological and natural resources footprint of the big tobacco. The social issues associated with tobacco use and production have been examined. My rating of the industry’s CSR have been examined and then Big Tobacco’s conduct related to Saint Leo’s core values. REFERENCES premiumtimesng.com (2018) Tobacco Fact-Sheet: Tobacco Companies Engage in CSR to Promote Company Interest. Retrieved from https://www.premiumtimesng.com/resources/158719-tobacco-fact-sheet-tobacco-companies-engage-csr-promote-company-interests.html Savedoff, W.(2017) Tobacco Companies Fail the Corporate Social Responsibility Test of a Free Market Advocate. Retrieved from https://www.cgdev.org/blog/tobacco-companies-fail-corporate-social-responsibility-test-free-market-advocate Study.com (n.d) The Social and Political Issues of Tobacco Use. Retrieved from https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-social-and-political-issues-of-tobacco-use.html World Health Organization (WHO) (2017) Tobacco and Its Environmental Impact: An Overview. Retrieved from: http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/255574/1/--eng.pdf Richmond, R. (2006), Ethical dilemmas in providing tobacco to developing countries: the case of China. Addiction, 92:-. doi:10.1111/j-.tb03672.x Roberts J.,A (2013) Tobacco Advertising: Ethical or Unethical? Retrieved from https://atriciaroberts.wordpress.com/2013/02/14/tobacco-advertising-ethical-or-unethical/ Wilson, N., & Thomson, G. (2005). Tobacco tax as a health protecting policy: a brief review of the New Zealand evidence. NZ Med J, -), U1403. Truthinitiative.org (2017) Tobacco is a Social Justice Issue: Racial And Ethnic Minorities. Retrieved from https://truthinitiative.org/news/tobacco-social-justice-issue-racial-and-ethnic-minorities Ash.org (2014) Tobacco Corporations Buy Political Influence. Retrieved from https://ash.org/campaigncontributions/ Theguardian.com (2017) How Big Tobacco has Survived Death and Taxes. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/11/how-big-tobacco-has-survived-death-and-taxes Thedailycaller.com (2011) What Would a Smoke-Free America Cost the Government? Retrieved from http://dailycaller.com/2011/02/28/what-would-an-america-without-smokers-cost/ Aljazeera.com (2017) Big Tobacco's Big Profits. Retrieved from https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/countingthecost/2017/06/big-tobacco-big-profits-.html cancer.org (2017) US Tobacco Companies Tell the Truth about Addictive Products. Retrieved from https://www.cancer.org/latest-news/us-tobacco-companies-tell-the-truth-about-addictive-products.html usatoday.org (2017) A Foolish Take: Which Companies Control the U.S. Tobacco Market? Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2017/05/09/a-foolish-take-which-companies-control-the-us-tobacco-market/-/ Quora.com (n.d) who are the Stakeholders in the Smoking Industry? Retrieved from https://www.quora.com/Who-are-the-stakeholders-in-the-smoking-industry Academic.udayton.edu (n.d) History of Tobacco. Retrieved from http://academic.udayton.edu/health/syllabi/tobacco/history.htm