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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
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