6,339
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
===References===
{{reflist|2}}
SW: update
{{#badges: AEX | tobaccowiki | GlobalCorpWiki}}
'''Altria Group''', formerly [[Philip Morris]], is the world's largest tobacco company. In the U.S. it controls about half of the tobacco market. In 2007 , Altria spun off its food division [[Kraft|Kraft Foods Inc.]] (Jell-O, Kool-Aid, Maxwell House). <ref>[http://www.hoovers.com/altria/--ID__11179--/free-co-factsheet.xhtml Altria Profile], ''Hoovers'', accessed August 2007.</ref> Altria Group's primary holdings until 2007 included [[Philip Morris]] companies as well as [[Kraft Foods]](Jell-O, Kool-Aid, Maxwell House), which it spun off in 2007. Philip Morris International is an international tobacco company that has seven of the top 20 global cigarette brands. See also [[History of Philip Morris]]. In 2010, it had a total revenue of $16.9 billion.<ref>[http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/financials/financials.asp?ticker=MO:US Altria Group Inc Financials],"BusinessWeek.com</ref> Its CEO, Michael Szymancyk, had an annual compensation of $24.1 million in 2010.<ref>[http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=296360&ticker=MO:US&previousCapId=296308&previousTitle=ALTRIA%20GROUP%20INC Altria Executive ProfilesMichael Szymanczyk],"Michael Szymanczyk"''Bloomberg BusinessWeek'', accessed June 2011</ref>For more on annual revenue, see [[#Annual Revenue|below]].
==Support for the American Legislative Exchange Council== Altria is on the [[ALEC Boards and Task Forces|Private Enterprise Board ]] of the [[American Legislative Exchange Council]] (ALEC), represented by . [[Toby Spangler]], a lobbyist with Altria Client Services, represented the global corporation on ALEC's corporate board in 2011.<ref> [http://www.alec.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Private_Enterprise_Board&Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=15992 Private Enterprise Board], ALEC website, accessed July 7, 2011.</ref>
{{about_ALEC}}
*Related Sourcewatch resources: [[ALEC and Tobacco]]
==Products==
*purposely [[Tobacco industry marketing aimed at youth|marketed to young people under 21]] to recruit "replacement smokers" and preserve the industry's financial future;
*publicly denied, while internally acknowledging, that [[Secondhand smoke|secondhand tobacco smoke]] is harmful to nonsmokers, and
*destroyed documents relevant to litigation <ref>[http://www.tobaccolawcenterpublichealthlawcenter.org/documentssites/FinalOpiniondefault/files/resources/doj-final-opinion.pdfUnited States v. Philip Morris USA Final Opinion], August 17, 2006, p.1</ref>
===Racketeering Conviction Upheld on Appeal===
=="Light" Cigarettes Lawsuits==
On December 15, 2005, the Illinois Supreme Court threw out a $10.1 billion verdict against Philip Morris and its parent company, Altria Group, saying they did not mislead consumers when advertising "light" cigarettes. <ref>David A. Vise, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/15/AR2005121502034.htmlCourt Overturns $10 Billion Verdict Against Philip Morris], ''Washington Post'', December 16, 2005</ref>
The ''Chicago Tribune'' reports that Philip Morris' lawyers "contributed $16,800 to help elect a judge who cast a deciding vote" in the case. Judge Lloyd Karmeier "also received $1.2 million in campaign money from a group that filed an amicus brief supporting the cigarette-maker." The Illinois Chamber of Commerce, "which also filed an amicus brief in support of Philip Morris, contributed $269,338" to Karmeier's campaign. Yet Karmeier did not recuse himself. The court's press secretary said Karmeier "has tried to insulate himself from knowing the identities of campaign contributors and would not allow campaign contributions to have any effect on his ruling in this or any other case."<ref>[http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0512160121dec16,1,2628001.story?coll=chi-business-hed]</ref>
===SourceWatch articles===
*[[Alexis de Tocqueville Institution]]
*[[ALEC and Tobacco]]
*[[ALEC Boards and Task Forces]]
*[[American Cancer Society]]
*[[American Legislative Exchange Council]]
*[[Animal testing]]
*[[Cato Institute]]
*[[Tobacco industry]]
*[[World Health Organization]]
===Internal PM documents ===
*Judith Siers-Poisson, [http://www.prwatch.org/node/6216 The Politics and PR of Cervical Cancer], a four part series, PRWatch.org, July, 2007.
===References===
{{reflist|2}}
[[Category:Tobacco industry]][[Category:Corporations]] [[Category:Health]][[Category: Animal testing]] [[Category:United States]] [[Category: Cancer]][[Category: Animal rights]]
