Motion: Tobacco Companies and FOI Requests

Tobacco Companies and FOI Requests

Lodged by Stewart Maxwell Standard Motion 19 supporters

The motion

That the Parliament condemns British American Tobacco in light of media reports suggesting that, through the use freedom of information (FOI) requests, a corporate lawyer acting on its behalf attempted to access data on the buying habits of children in Victoria, Australia; understands that it also used Australian FOI legislation to obtain research by the Cancer Institute of New South Wales into adults' attitudes to smoking; believes that, by accessing such information, the companies could use the findings to customise advertising campaigns, tailor pricing strategies that could appeal to young people and to contest proposed plain packaging laws, including in the UK; understands that, in 2011, Philip Morris International attempted to use FOI legislation to access research by the University of Stirling University on the smoking habits of teenagers; believes that tobacco companies are trying to access such publicly-funded research in order to undermine public health initiatives, and considers that they should be prevented from doing so.

Supporters (19)