The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "cigarette companies" ...
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Burning Secret
This investigation revealed that tobacco companies have developed new cigarettes that pose a much lower fire risk than conventional cigarettes. An on-air test revealed that the new product was far less likely to ignite a furniture cushion than was a conventional cigarette. New York requires that the new cigarettes be sold in that state, and the tobacco companies do not sell them anywhere else.
Tags: tobacco; tobacco companies; fire; fire safety
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Tobacco Traffic
The Center for Investigative Reporting looks at how major tobacco companies, Phillip Morris and Brown & Williamson, organized smuggling of cigarettes on a massive scale into Colombia and elsewhere in the world. The story aired on NOW with Bill Moyers, PBS.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; tobacco; cigarettes; Phillip Morris; Brown & Williamson; Colombia; smuggling; import tax evasion; tobacco companies; Congress; USA Patriot Act; ASH; tobacco industry; Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids; USDA; political contributions; Center for Responsive Politics; NOW; Bill Moyers; PBS
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Big Tobacco: Uncovering the Industry's Multi-Billion Dollar Global Smuggling Ring
The Center for Investigative Reporting provides an inside look at "how the major tobacco companies, Phillip Morris and Brown & Williamson, organized smuggling of cigarettes on a massive scale into Colombia and elsewhere in the world. The story revealed how the tobacco companies helped orchestrate the smuggling operation as a means of entering the Colombian market through large-scale import tax evasion; the inside mechanics of how the smuggling enterprise worked; and how it was fueled with funds laundered by U.S. based drug dealers. The story also broke news in illuminating how the tobacco companies pressured Congress to alter the USA Patriot Act in order to preserve their insulation from legal accountability for allegations of smuggling and fraud that are contained in the lawsuits." The story was released April 23 and published May 6 in The Nation.
Tags: Tobacco; smuggling; Colombia; Phillip Morris; Brown & Williamson; Congress; USA Patriot Act; drug dealers; cigarettes
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A Question of Intent: A Great American Battle with a Deadly Industry
Kessler's book depicts the investigation undertaken by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) into the tobacco industry. The author, former FDA commissioner in the early 90s, uncovers "historical evidence that the tobacco companies orchestrated the greatest conspiracy ever undertaken to put the nation's health at risk." The book follows step by step the disclosure of scientific information and documents that proved the tobacco companies awareness that nicotine is an addictive drug. Kessler looks at the money and politics strings that tobacco industry has been controlling over the past decades.
Tags: cigarettes; nicotine; drugs; Phillip Morris; lobbying; public health; cancer; children; youth; schools; advertising image; tobacco regulations; Congress; legislature
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Tobacco Companies Linked to Criminal Organizations in Lucrative Cigarette Smuggling
This nine-part investigative report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a project of the Center for Public Integrity, reveals "how Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds and British American Tobacco became enmeshed with organized crime worldwide as they fought to expand markets and increase profits through cigarette smuggling." While corporate officials were pleading ignorance in explaining how one-third of the world's exported cigarettes end up on the black market they were in fact working closely with companies and officials directly connected to organized crime in the United States, Canada, Italy, China, Taiwan and other countries, the investigation reports.
Tags: Sicilian Mafia; Latin America; Cocaine barons; crime; smoking; smokers; business; government; tax evasions; Third World countries; money laundering; financial crimes; customs; witness protection; transit trade; exports; imports; racketeering
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Tobacco Companies Linked To Criminal Organizations In Lucrative Cigarette Smuggling
The Center For Public Integrity explores and investigates the complicity of major cigarette companies in black market smuggling across the globe fueled by a desire for profits. Included with the articles are numerous documents, court files and transcripts which show the cigarette companies' role in these illegal operations which have been linked to gangs, organized crime and murders.
Tags: tobacco; cigarette smuggling; cigarette companies; money laundering; gangs; organized crime; RICO act; FOIA
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To Sell the Truth
Brill's Content analyses the anti-smoking campaign started by the recently established American Legacy Foundtaion. The story reveals that "a $100 million-plus effort to use the glitz and tricks of advertising to battle teen smoking ... is being hampered by politics and by a bureaucracy's need to self-perpetuate." The article reports on how the foundation's ad creators are pressed to comply with the "so-called antivilification clause, which forbids the foundation form attacking the tobacco companies directly and introduces a specter of liability..." The article looks at the controversies surrounding a recent ads that showed body bags being brought to the corporate headquarters of "a major tobacco company," and describes other creative ideas that have remained nascent.
Tags: Phillip Morris; tobacco; commercials; advertisement; smoking; anti-smoking; teenagers; street marketing; pregnancy; cigarettes; public health
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Pack of Renegades: Tobacco Deal Has Unintended Effect: New discount Smokes
This Wall Street Journal story looks at the proliferation of small makers of low-price cigarettes, while large tobacco companies experience times of trouble. The story reveals that "some cut-rate smokes are selling for as little as $1 a pack, compared with an average retail price of more than $3 fro big-name brands." The analysis finds that the "rise of small manufacturers means big companies pay less to the states." The reporter points out that the low-price producers decline to sign the national tobacco settlement and complain that it unfairly penalizes them, while in the meantime their market share is increasing.
Tags: tobacco; settlement; states; business; litigation; Fifth amendment; escrow payments
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Fertile Waters
ABA Journal examines new law developments that favor plaintiffs in environmental lawsuits. The analysis finds that plaintiffs today can rely on "new scientific studies that provide better proof of the effect of some pollutants on human health" and "on new theories of liability, some of them based on strategies used in the recent tobacco litigation... - what defendants knew and when they knew it." The report sheds light on the most common "hurdles litigants face in this lawsuit. " The story profiles Judy Piatt, a horse farm owner, who lost her horses and was diagnosed with a rare disease, after a dust-abatement contractor sprayed hazardous waste over the horse show arena and then "walked away from virtually all liability." The author concludes that "if Piatt's damages had occurred today, she'd have a better chance of receiving compensation."
Tags: environment; plaintiffs; lawsuits; attorneys; tobacco; cigarette companies; hazardous waste; pollution; contaminants; courts
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The Next Tobacco War: The Worldwide Assault on Cigarette Smuggling
"As a criminal industry, cigarette smuggling is so profitable that even Colombia's drug lords and Italy's mafia groups have gone into it in a big, and often violent, way. But the real perpetrators, according to allegations explored at length in this story, are the major tobacco companies, which have not only tolerated the smuggling, -- but have actively organized, promoted and encouraged it, in cooperation with some of the worlds' seediest business partners. Big Tobacco's evident goal: to undermine public policy in many countries, especially in the West, where high taxes and duties are used to reduce smoking among adults and prevent it amount young people.
Tags: tobacco; smuggling; organized crime; racketeering; WHO; World Health Organization; money laundering; taxes; tariffs; general trade