Chris R. Tame

This article is part of the Tobacco portal on Sourcewatch funded from 2006 - 2009 by the American Legacy Foundation.

Dr. Chris R. Tame is the founder and Director of the Libertarian Alliance in the late 1970s. Prior to this, he worked for the National Association for Freedom and the Institute for Economic Affairs. From approximately 1989 to 1994 he served as director of the British smokers' rights group FOREST (Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco).

Biography

From the website of the Libertarian Alliance [1]:

As director of FOREST in April 1989, Tame wrote a strategy document in which he conceded that any medical or health-based argument about secondhand tobacco smoke was lost before it begins, and that smokers and the industry cannot win as long as the argument is held on the grounds of health. Tame plotted how to get around this, and suggested a strategy that has actually long been used by the industry and its supporters in many countries. The strategy was to equate public health efforts around smoking with fascism and authoritarianism. Tame wrote,

The only way that the right to smoke can be preserved is to link it up with the freedom of lifestyle position, and with the broader libertarian critique of 'health fascism' and the paternalism and authoritarianism of the medical establishment. Our 'special interest' can only be viably defended as part and parcel of broader coalition. We have to shift the focus of the debate from the enemy's strong ground--health--to our strong ground--freedom of choice and individual liberty.[2]

Tame has written extensively over the years in Britain and abroad.

Tame has edited The Bibliography of Freedom for the Centre for Policy Studies and has contributed to such books as The Case for Private Enterprise , The New Right Enlightenment and The Politics of Crime Control. His essays have appeared in such journals as The Jewish Journal of Sociology, Il Politico, Science and Public Policy, The Journal of Social, Political and Economic Studies, Werifrei and Economic Affairs.

A graduate in American Studies from Hull University, he was later awarded a PhD from Middlesex University. A public affairs professional who has worked in a variety of fields, he is one of Britain's best known libertarian broadcasters and writers. He can be contacted at chris@libertarian.co.uk or via his mobile telephone 07957 644519.

References

• Officers of the Libertarian Alliance, Libertarian Alliance website, accessed December 2003
• Chris R. Tame, "Forest's future strategy: a discussion", Legacy Tobacco Documents Library, Bates Number: 507652779/2785, April 1989 (estimated). (This is an internal FOREST report released as part of the settlement of legal actions against the tobacco industry in the US).

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