Camel Smoker John Boehner’s New Job: Tobacco Lobbyist

Former House Speaker joins tobacco company board of directors

http://www.medpagetoday.com/Pulmonology/Smoking/60264

Former House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is one of two new board members for the tobacco giant Reynolds American (RAI), the company announced Thursday.

In a press statement, Thomas C. Wajnert, who chairs Reynolds’ board of directors noted that move comes “as RAI gains momentum in its strategy to transform the tobacco industry.”

The appointment comes just days after an African American health group made a public appeal to President Obama to move on a long-stalled ban on menthol cigarettes, charging that tobacco companies have effectively targeted black youth and communities with menthol-flavored products.

Reynolds’ markets Newport, which is America’s top selling menthol cigarette brand. The company also makes Camel, which is the brand the heavy-smoking Boehner reportedly favors.

Boehner, who left Congress last year, will serve on the RAI board’s corporate governance, nominating and sustainability committee.

A spokesman for Boehner told The Wall Street Journal Thursday that the former House Speaker looks forward to helping RAI achieve its objective of “speeding the decline in tobacco use among young people and reducing the harm caused by smoking.”

In a strongly worded statement, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids’ president Matthew L. Myers rejected that claim saying, “It is truly absurd that tobacco giant Reynolds American and former House Speaker John Boehner, who was elected to Reynolds’ board of directors today, would express a commitment to “speeding the decline in tobacco use among young people,”Myers said. “Their records show the exact opposite. Reynolds’ announcement pairs the tobacco company with the most egregious record of marketing to kids and a politician with a long record of fighting policies to reduce youth tobacco use.”

Myers noted that in the same week Boehner was appointed to the RAI board, The Wall Street Journal published a story highlighting efforts by the company to market Newport cigarettes to young people with coupons for cigarettes at just $1 per pack and “Newport Pleasure Lounges” at music festivals.

Myers said RAI and other tobacco companies are also spending millions to fight ballot initiatives to significantly increase cigarette taxes in California, Colorado, and North Dakota.

“Reynolds, Altria/Philip Morris and other tobacco companies have already spent about $60 million to run deceptive ads against these initiatives,” he said. “Reynolds is opposing these initiatives for the very same reason it is offering cheap Newports: It knows that increasing the price of cigarettes is one of the most effective ways to reduce smoking, especially among kids.”

On Tuesday, the black advocacy group African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council (AATCLC) held a press conference in Washington D.C. asking the Obama Administration to act to ban menthol cigarettes from the market. The NAACP, which had long opposed such a ban, also recently voted to support efforts to restrict the sale of menthol cigarettes.

In an interview with MedPage Today, AATCLC co-chairman Phillip Gardiner, DrPH, said tobacco companies have historically provided economic support to groups like the NAACP and the National Urban League to essentially buy their silence.

“Things have changed some in the last few years, but, unfortunately since Day 1 the tobacco industry has invested heavily in African American civic, religious, sports and political organizations,” he said.

Filed under: General Problems