Tobacco business attacked

An oncologist of Melbourne, Australia, is on a mission to break the links between the tobacco and global-finance industries, according to an interview conducted by Madeleine Morris at abc.net.au.

Morris, in introducing the oncologist, Dr. Bronwyn King, who is also the CEO of Tobacco Free Portfolios, said that the global finance industry still worked hand-in-glove with the tobacco industry. Big insurers insured it, big banks lent to it, and many superannuation funds invested their members’ money in it.

In fact, King was prompted to act when, 10 years ago, her financial adviser told her that her superannuation fund – along with most others – invested in cigarette companies.

“If we invented the finance system today, banks wouldn’t automatically lend money to tobacco companies, and super funds or global pension funds wouldn’t invest in tobacco companies and insurers wouldn’t insure them,” King was quoted as saying. “We simply have to undo what has been established as a status quo…

“Seven million people across the world have died as a result of tobacco in the past year alone. Just imagine if a brand-new industry was launched today and, by the end of next June, that industry’s products had killed seven million people.” [The interview appeared to be dated January 22; so it wasn’t clear why it was implied that ‘next June’ was a year away.]

Morris said that, during the past year King had been around the world six times; and to New York and Paris five times each. “She’s on a mission to convince major financial institutions to drop their investments in cigarette companies,” said Morris.

The extracts from the interview are not included in chronological order above. The interview, as presented, is here.