British American Tobacco secretly invades Tasmania using a “front” organisation.

Kathy Barnsley
THE Butt Littering Trust has arrived in Tasmania, courtesy of several southern councils. According to page 26 of The Mercury on Tuesday March 24 the Butt Littering Trust is here to save us from the scourge of cigarette butt litter. Attractive young women in tight T-shirts are the vanguard of the action. This is a typical tobacco industry ploy.

There is no doubt that cigarette butt litter is a major problem for councils and the community, and particularly as they pollute our waterways. However, the Butt Littering Trust refuses to make any attempt to reduce smoking rates. They refuse to put “quitline” numbers on any of their butt bins or literature, or to give any advice about stopping smoking.

The Butt Littering Trust is a front organisation for the Australian tobacco giant British American Tobacco (BAT).

The Butt Littering Trust claims to be independent of BAT, yet according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald,
“The trust maintains it is independent of BAT Australia, its main sponsor, even though Valerie Ritchie, head of public relations at BAT Australia, sits on its board of trustees.”

The NSW Environmental Protection Authority said in 2004

“Cigarette manufacturers have largely limited their product stewardship activities to funding community education. They appear to consider that such funding fulfils their product stewardship obligations. However, the activities and projects funded have not translated into widespread reduction of cigarette butt litter. The impact of current activities funded by cigarette manufacturers is clearly unsatisfactory”

Professor Simon Chapman of Sydney University has pointed out the conflict of interest that BAT has in its association with the Butt Littering Trust.

The online book “Tobacco in Australia’ provides comprehensive detail about the activities of the tobacco industry.

BAT opposes bans on smoking in public places (with the exception of children’s playgrounds) and instead supports the activities of the Butt Littering Trust. Basically it says it is better to pick up the butts than it is to stop smoking!

In his article in Tobacco Control, Professor Chapman says
“But it gets worse. Along with long-time tobacco industry ally the Australian Hotels Association, the Trust has recently opposed moves by Newcastle City Council to ban smoking at outside al fresco restaurant and café tables where many non-smokers have complained that they must sit cheek-by-jowl with smokers who are not permitted to smoke indoors. The Trust argues that smoking bans have caused smokers to move outdoors, where many discard their butts.”

Now that BAT/BLT has the “ear” of our councils they can continue to lobby against any further bans on smoking in public places. Our malls, al fresco dining areas and other public places will remain polluted by cigarette smoke. Diners, pedestrians, children and shoppers will continue to be assaulted by cigarette smoke.

In 2006 the WA Local Government Association wrote to all its constituent councils expressing concern about the Butt Littering Trust and its insidious influence. It would be nice to see some leadership from Councils in Tasmania on reducing smoking, given that we have the highest smoking rate of any State and that our smoking rates in Tasmania are actually rising.

In the words of Professor Chapman

“Reducing the prevalence of smoking would do more than any other strategy to reduce butt pollution. ………….. The only people who discard butts are smokers. Thirty per cent of all Australian adults used to discard butts and now never do, because they are ex-smokers. Effective tobacco control reduces both the number of smokers in the community and the amount of cigarettes smoked per day by continuing smokers. It controls butt littering at source, because it reduces the number of “sources” who each have on average some 6200 butts to dispose of each year.”

Tasmanian councils should be encouraged to prohibit smoking in public spaces where people congregate, in order to both reduce smoking, improve health, and reduce cigarette butt litter and pollution. Tasmanian councils should resist the lure of tobacco “blood” money, and instead lobby the federal government for an allocation of funds from tobacco taxes to tackle smoking and butt pollution in their jurisdictions. Tobacco taxes should be increased, as it is an effective way of reducing smoking rates, and this is one of the uses to which the money could be put.