Campaign to Address the Global Public Health Impact of
ALTRIA'S FUTURE BREAKUP

Espagnol
Français


Home

Call to Governments Worldwide

List of Organizations Signed On

Add Your Organization
to the List!

Updates

Philip Morris World Tour

Contact

 

ALTRIA CEO LOUIS CAMILLERI'S RESPONSE TO THE DEMANDS
( April 27, 2006)

During the Q & A portion of the 2006 Altria shareholder meeting in East Hanover, New Jersey, Lauren Baisden, a youth with Wisconsin's FACT movement, addressed Altria CEO Louis Camilleri. She made the following statement on behalf of the youth inside and outside the meeting and the over 100 groups around the world who had signed on to the list of demands of the company:

BAISDEN: Good morning, Mr. Camilleri I am Lauren Baisden with Wisconsin FACT, I am here today with 100 youth advocates from all over the world, 25 whom are in this room. Altria has signaled that it is planning to split up into three separate companies: Kraft, Philip Morris USA, and Philip Morris International. There is worldwide concern that unleashing Philip Morris International from Altria will worsen the already devastating tobacco epidemic.

Mr Camilleri,as you head for a break up we call on you to give us a break from the following: Tobacco advertising and misleading descriptors like "light and mild"; lobbying on framework convention on tobacco control and against 100% smokefree places; invoking trade agreements to challenge tobacco control legislation; tobacco smuggling; secrecy about advertising expenditures, political contributions on lobbying cost; bogus youth prevention programs; and finally smoking and product placement in movies and other media. Over 100 groups in 50 countries have signed onto these demands. My question for you, Mr. Camillieri, is will you agree to these demands?

CAMILLERI'S RESPONSE: Well I won't agree to all of those demands. Um, you know, every year we have these discussions and I try to listen to hard and I try to understand and generally I do understand the positions. Uh frankly I'm having difficulty intellectually understanding that an independent PMI would make matters worse. If anything it should make things better because the spotlight would shine more on PMI, so intellectually I'm having a problem. With regards to PMI's policies and programs, I would really encourage you to read the PMI website. As I said earlier don't let your animosity of this industry and this company in particular blind your judgment and sometimes mischaracterize the facts. So thank you.

Note: Transcribed from the 2006 Altria meeting webcast