INFORMATION OFFICERS' WORKSHOP
BRUSSELS
March 26-27, 1985
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THE FOLLOWING PAPERS WERE PRESENTED AT THE
INFOTAB INFORMATION OFFICERS' WORKSHOP
BRUSSELS, March 26-27, 1985
Item n0 on
programme Title Presented by
A. DEALING WITH CONTROVERSY
How the industry manages public
issues: INFOTAB's role Bryan Simpson
B.1 INFOTAB's Information Services Antonietta
Corti
B.2 INFOTAB's documentation system Peter
Kettlewell
(+ 3 Appendices) Verna Hartinger
C. INFOTAB's use of information & resources
C.1 The INFO-series Catharine Browne
C.2 Requests for information and
Issues binder Esther Maquet
C.3 The Smoking Issues Status Book Roland
Corradini
D. The Tobacco Trade Press
The work of "Tabak Journal
International" Barbara Horne
E. Industry electronic systems: storing &
retrieving
data
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E.1 INFOTAB's database ips 3
access by members via an
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I.B.M. network Verna Hartinger Lr.
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Item n* on
programme Title Presented by
E.2 The TOBACCO ADVISORY COUUCIL
database (United Kingdom) Bill Thom
E.3 The TOBACCO INSTITUTE information
system Dan Milway
E.4 The VERBAND DER CIGARETTEN-
INDUSTRIE database
(West Germany) Dr. Gerhard Scherer
F. Commercial electronic databases:
Range, scope, access, exploitation John Eyre
G. Sources of information for the industry: A
review
G.1 Public and Social Issues Cathy Deegan
(+ Appendix)
G.2 Science and Health Marian DeBardeleben
I. Does information equal communication?
1.1 Symbols & Graphics Michel Olyff
Summary and closure of the
workshop Antonietta Corti
PARTICIPANTS LIST
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A. DEALING WITH CONTROVERSY
How Industry Manages Public Issues: INFOTAB's Role
Bryan Simpson
Secretary General
May I say how good it is to see you all at our
communications
seminar.
Like a competent army, the Tobacco Industry needs
first class
intelligence, and on a world wide basis INFOTAB is
endeavouring
to supply this vital need to its members, its
associations and
lead companies.
There is no need for me to highlight the
difficulties and
complexities facing the Tobacco Industry. As
important members
of this industry you all encounter the
difficulties we face on
a daily basis.
Responding to the pressures creates a daily
challenge to us all
as the product, mainly the cigarette, comes under
attack from
our main opponents.
In brief these are:
Health officials in international organisations
such as
the W.H.O. and the U.I.C.C.
Health officials in national government ministries
Professional medical associations such as the
American
Lung and Heart Associations, the American Cancer
Society,
the British Medical Association, the Royal College
of
Physicians and their counterparts in many
countries.
The very active lay anti-smoking groups such as
A.S.H.,
G.A.S.P. and BUGA-UP.
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The scientific reports in the leading medical
journals are
regularly published and from these reports,
journalists extend
the coverage into consumer media, notably daily
newspapers and
television current affairs programmes.
With so much emphasis on health and life style
factors,
cigarette smoking attracts most attention,
although increases
are noticeable in the debate on alcohol and food
products,
additives such as hormones and the influence of
pesticides.
Later speakers will be presenting to you INFOTAB's
documentation system and how best you can utilise
the
information resources we offer from INFOTAB.
We hope, when you leave us on Thursday, that you
will have
formulated plans that can be implemented in your
own offices,
which will maximise the use of the information on
offer.
we also hope that, in turn, you may be able to
demonstrate to
us your needs so that we can tailor our services
more closely
to your requirements.
To set the scene on how we deal with controversy
and our
recommendations on how best to deal with public
issues, may I
give you some of the major issues we are facing,
and our
approach to these issues and where we see the
priorities.
Taxation
Without doubt the major issue today is the
question of taxation
of tobacco products.
Our opponents have, for more than twenty years,
drawn constant
attention to the health risks.
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However, they have realised that forcing a change
in people's c::)
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life styles is an unacceptable procedure and has a
marginal CD
effect on consumption. UM
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3
Therefore, much more attention is being given to
pressurising
governments into high taxation which has resulted
in the
percentage of taxation on the retail price being
as high as 88%
in De~nark, certainly averaging over 70% in Europe
and varying
in decree in other regional areas. The figure is
rarely below
50%.
There is a clear history that substantial price
increases at
regulaz intervals makes it difficult for consumers
to continue
their :)er capita consumption.
The Industry is vigorously protesting about the
high incidence
of taxation, emphasising the regressive nature of
such actions
and p--inting out that the law of diminishing
returns is close
at hand. Our experience leads us to the conclusion
that relief
again-st the problem of taxation can only be
achieved at local
level and INFOTAB's only role can be in providing
case
histcries and technical background to enable the
battle to be
fough-- locally.
Marke-:ing Freedoms
Next on our list of priorities is the defence of
marketing
freeEnms.
The =ight to promote our products is being
challenged almost
ever~rahere and already promotion and advertising
has been
banned in Norway, Finland, Iceland, Singapore and
Italy.
Many other countries have severe limitations and
air media is
denied to the Industry as a promotional and
information vehicle
in mcst western countries.
We have clearly established, by research and
investigation,
that consumption is not greatly affected by
promotion and
advert-ising and that new smokers are not
substantially
recruited because of advertising. Good solid
defensive
material is made available from INFOTAB and recent
endeavours
by our opponents have not been successful in
achieving bans.
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However, eternal vigilance is still absolutely
necessary, and
we urge you to take advantage of all our
information on this
very i=portant subject.
Social Acceptability
The next priority is the issue of social
acceptability which
embraceS the health question, the probl em
emerging of public
opinion on passive smoking and in general the
tolerance or lack
of tolerance to smoking as an acceptable social
practice.
We do ---,ave reasonable scientific evidence in
most of these
areas, but in terms of pure volume, the incidence
of scientific
papers concerning smoking and creating doubts in
people's
minds, -:he opposing material is overwhelming.
We at :NFOTAB carefully sift all the material
available and
include it in the resources available to you.
We alsc encourage as much science as possible
which offers a
balance--' view on the smoking issue.
This ye-=r we will be assisting in the production
of a book on
"Smokinz and Society" which offers the views of 14
authors on
most ofL the issues mentioned.
Economiz Impact
There iS clear evidence that the growing,
manufacturing and
distribution of tobacco products creates a
livelihood for
millions of people throughout the world.
Gradually, more and more countries in our network
are
responding to INFOTAB's urging to produce Economic
Impact
Studies showing the effect that the Tobacco
Industry has on the
contribution to commercial activity, employment
and
agricul-:ural prosperity in the various regions.
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We are making gradual progress in building up a
world wide
picture of the economic contribution of tobacco.
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From information resources you can get formats and
guidance on
how best to present these facts.
There is much more I can say to you on public
issues, but your
mission to this seminar is to assess what use you
can make of
the information resources of INFOTAB, so i will
close by saying
we hope this day and tomorrow will be rewarding
and helpful to
you.
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B.1 INFOTAB's Information Services
Antonietta Corti
Director of Information Services
It is thanks to a constant two-way communication
flow between
your organizations and ours that we are at present
in a
position to say we are fully operational. This
does not, of
Course, preclude future extensions, improvements
and
adaptations.
Information Services includes 12 of the 19 staff
members of the
Secretariat. Although, we operate closely as a
team, each one
of us also has a particular function. The analysts
have each
built up expertise in certain areas but maintain
enough
flexibility to help each other out.
They will present you with their individual
reports just a bit
later.
1. Role of Information Services of INFOTAB vs.
others
As an introduction, I'd like to make a few
observations about
the role of Infotab's Information Services within
the tobacco
industry. Each Company and many National
Manufacturers'
Associations have their own information services.
Often these
are more sophisticated than ours. So what is
different about
Infotab's?
A few extracts from our Charter may throw a light
on this:
"...The Association has as its purpose the
establishment
of a forum for exchange of views and information
on
international tobacco issues (to include tobacco
and
health) by co-ordination of data and information
in
economic, scientific and technical areas ...
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" ... The organization shall not participate in
any activity
or give consideration to any matters relating to
the
management or control of any of its members or to
the
operations by any of its members of their
respective
businesses, including, without limitation, matters
relating to the purchase, manufacture,
transportation,
advertising, pricing or marketing of tobacco or
tobacco
products..."
There is another interesting restriction:
"...It shall not be part of the association's
purpose to
make medical judgements on tobacco issues
Thus we deal exclusively with non-commercial,
non-competitive
issues, and make no judgements on smoking and
health questions.
To all of you this is easily understandable as you
know that
our members, on the one hand, may sometimes differ
in their
opinion on some health questions and, on the other
hand, the
legal situation is highly constraining.
In operational terms, we thus understand our role
to act as:
- An early warning system to industry worldwide,
and in
particular to NMAs;
- A clearing-house for information on smoking
issues and industry activity;
- A generator of argumentation and assistance for
NMAs.
In this area I need to say a word about our work
in maintaining
close links with country contacts in the various
regions. At
the. secretariat we split the responsibility to
ensure liaison
with the various areas of the world:
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Bryan Simpson Europe and North America
Hans Verkerk Far East and Asia
Richard Corner - Middle East and Africa.
Myself - Latin America
This is done through country visits, regional
workshops, and
first hand feedback on developments and needs of
members.
2. Priority Issues
In terms of collection, processing and analysis of
issues, we
cover the following areas:
1. Taxation.
2. Marketing freedom: advertising, sponsorship.
3. Economic impact and alleged social costs.
4. "Passive" and public smoking.
5. Industry action.
6. Issues related to LDC's.
We are not strictly sticking to these areas but
give them
priority in covering them in a systematic and
comprehensive
way. We gather all available literature and
discussion papers
on these issues.
3. Products
How is the incoming information material used?
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There are four main categories of materials we
produce:
1. Regular publications on press coverage of
smoking
issues, on legislation, anti-smoking activities
and action
carried out by industry.
2. Reference tools
3. Support material for action
4. Special packages and tailor-made
Argumentation
1. Regular information includes:
- Infotopics
- Infodate
- Infogram
- Infobrief
2. Reference material includes:
- "Issues" Binder
- Smoking Issues Status Book
- Catalogues of material available in the library
- "Industry in Action" containing case histories
- "Taxation"
3. Support material for action:
- A guide to communication techniques
- CATAC (Campaign against Tobacco and Advertising
Censorship)
Economic impact methodology
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4. Handling of special requests can take on any
form, from
the despatch of a simple document to detailed
analysis or
argumentation on a particular issue.
Last year we handled some 300 such requests; you
will
hear more about this from Esther.
Many of the requests for documentation and
assistance we
receive touch on health issues, and you saw that
this is not on
the list of priorities. We deal with them - never
making a
judgemental statement - by supporting lines of
argumentation
with third party quotations and by issuing
background papers
summarising the state of the art. Many individiual
requests
are dealt with in this manner and examples of
background
documents are the "PUBLIC SMOKING ISSUE" paper or
the ISSUES
BINDER, which were just given out in published
form. Esther
will further elaborate on this.
4. Storage and retrieval
obviously, an efficient storage and retrieval
system is the
basic requirement for information activity. Peter
Kettlewell
will talk about our library and manual storage
system.
Our computerised data base presently contains core
collections
on the priority areas I mentioned earlier. But
given that, we
have a regular and increasing number of requests
for material
on the primary health issue.
We shall gradually put third party documents
related to the
health debate on computer, without endeavouring,
however, to be
quite as systematic and comprehensive as for our
priority
issues.
This is not a thing you do overnight and Verna
will tell you
that getting one single document abstracted and
keyworded on
computer is a labour intensive process, but
eventually we shall
thus broaden our base.
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This data base is now accessible to our members as
you know.
Verna Hartinger will discuss the application of
the system and
Mr. Delft from IBM will talk to you about
possibilities of
electronic linkage worldwide and a few limitations
inherent in
the system.
We access the computer via one of our office
word-processors.
With the word-processing system, we are also able
to
communicate typed documents by telephone to other
word-processors by means of a modem.
5. What are our plans?
Firstly, we hope that the numb-er of members
accessing our data
base will increase steadily so that it can be
fully exploited
to the benefit of the whole industry. We are
therefore
delighted that 14 people will be attending the
special training
session foreseen on the Thursday and Friday
following this
workshop.
Our constant endeavour is to further intensify the
network of
industry communication and this meeting is a
welcome
opportunity to do so. I would like to say a word
of thanks to
all of you for your ongoing co-operation.
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BATCo document for Province of British Columbia 27
October 1999