{"id":3395,"date":"2015-07-21T19:41:01","date_gmt":"2015-07-21T19:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3395"},"modified":"2015-07-23T20:14:23","modified_gmt":"2015-07-23T20:14:23","slug":"new-jersey-star-ledger-editorial-u-s-chamber-stop-promoting-cigarettes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3395","title":{"rendered":"New Jersey Star-Ledger editorial: U.S. Chamber, stop promoting tobacco worldwide"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"chamber-smoking\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The New Jersey Star-Ledger, a major daily newspaper in Newark, N.J., came out this week with a strong editorial<\/a> bashing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for promoting U.S. tobacco companies abroad. The Star-Ledger accuses the U.S. Chamber of being a “shill” for Big Tobacco around the world.<\/p>\n

The Chamber, which has become an increasingly political group, has written dozens of letters to the governments of other nations, some of these small and poor nations, lobbying against a variety of tobacco regulations. CVS Health, which stopped selling tobacco products in its chain of drugstores recently, dropped out<\/a> of the U.S. Chamber in protest.<\/p>\n

Even Mother Jones<\/a> joined in on the outrage over the U.S. Chamber’s behaviour.<\/p>\n

This is something that has been covered by John Oliver and others. The world tobacco industry is fighting a number of small governments, some of which simply don’t have the resources to duke it out with Big Tobacco, over tobacco regulations regarding marketing, packaging and even smokefree workplace laws. The industry has filed a bunch of lawsuits, butting heads with small countries such as Ireland, Togo, Uruguay and others. The industry got into a full-on legal war with Australia over that country’s cigarette plain-packaging laws. The industry sued and it went all the way to the Australian Supreme Court, which ruled in favour of the government. Not satisfied, Big Tobacco enlisted the help of both Hong Kong and Ukraine to get those entities to claim that Australia was somehow violated trade treaties and laws with its plain packaging law.<\/p>\n

Anyway, the Chamber decided to write dozens of letters to these little countries, attempting to pressure them to drop their rules and regulations regarding packaging or tobacco marketing. The Star-Ledger brings up the Ukraine-Australia spat (which Ukraine eventually dropped<\/a>) and also included a video of the great John Oliver takedown<\/a> of the tobacco industry on his show.<\/p>\n

From the Star-Ledger:<\/p>\n

It would be heartening for the Obama Administration to condemn the U.S. Chamber for supporting Big Tobacco, and let the world know that these entities do not speak for the United States. But so far the only righteous stand has come from CVS, which resigned its membership from the USCOC<\/a> for trafficking in death. Until more corporations send that message, little will change.<\/p>\n

Its domestic political influence has waned in recent years. Even when Donohue argues for the right things \u2013 such as immigration reform \u2013 House Republicans ignore him.<\/p>\n

It remains very effective, however, in making money for its corporate partners, even when as wanders into ethical-dead zones under the pretense of “protecting intellectual property.”<\/p>\n

But it is time the U.S. Chamber got out of the tobacco business and stopped prioritizing death over profit. And its 100 affiliates worldwide \u2013 including the one in New Jersey \u2013 should decry its policy of peddling poison.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New Jersey Star-Ledger, a major daily newspaper in Newark, N.J., came out this week with a strong editorial bashing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for promoting U.S. tobacco companies abroad. The Star-Ledger accuses the U.S. Chamber of being a “shill” for Big Tobacco around the world. The Chamber, which has become an increasingly political … Continue reading New Jersey Star-Ledger editorial: U.S. Chamber, stop promoting tobacco worldwide<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,223,556,447],"tags":[558,557,559],"class_list":["post-3395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia","category-cvs-pharmacy","category-u-s-chamber-of-commerce","category-world-tobacco-use","tag-new-jersey-star-ledger","tag-u-s-chamber-of-commerce","tag-world-smoking"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/chamber-smoking.gif?fit=630%2C354&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4hpEa-SL","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3385,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3385","url_meta":{"origin":3395,"position":0},"title":"CVS quits U.S. Chamber of Commerce over CoC’s campaign against anti-smoking laws","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"July 13, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Great story, I loved this. CVS Health, which gained notoriety \u00a0in recent months for removing all tobacco products from its chain of drug stores, has now left the U.S. Chamber of Commerce because that organization is embroiled in a lobbying campaign worldwide against anti-smoking laws. 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In the past several years, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which used to be a fairly nonpolitical organization, but it has been transformed, mostly by its executive\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Philip Morris"","block_context":{"text":"Philip Morris","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=49"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/chamber_commerce_cartoon-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/chamber_commerce_cartoon-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/chamber_commerce_cartoon-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/chamber_commerce_cartoon-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/chamber_commerce_cartoon-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3531,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3531","url_meta":{"origin":3395,"position":2},"title":"Philadelphia proposes banning tobacco sales in drug stores","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"October 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The mayor of\u00a0Philadelphia last week proposed banning tobacco sales in pharmacies and drug stores. This story jogged my memory that I think San Francisco did the same thing. Sure enough, San Francisco did ban tobacco sales in pharmacies, in fact some time ago -- 2008 -- longer ago than I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "CVS Pharmacy"","block_context":{"text":"CVS Pharmacy","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=223"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Philadelphia.jpg?fit=780%2C438&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Philadelphia.jpg?fit=780%2C438&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Philadelphia.jpg?fit=780%2C438&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Philadelphia.jpg?fit=780%2C438&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3717,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3717","url_meta":{"origin":3395,"position":3},"title":"U.S. Department of Justice urged to investigate bribery case against British-American Tobacco","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"February 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Several U.S. Senators and Congresspeople have signed a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice\u00a0urging the agency to begin an investigation into bribery accusations against British-American Tobacco. I wrote about some of these accusations a few weeks ago here.\u00a0However, according to the letter from Congresspeople, the accusations go beyond those\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British-American Tobacco"","block_context":{"text":"British-American Tobacco","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=451"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/BAT_2148576b.jpg?fit=620%2C388&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/BAT_2148576b.jpg?fit=620%2C388&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/BAT_2148576b.jpg?fit=620%2C388&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3513,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3513","url_meta":{"origin":3395,"position":4},"title":"A look back at the World Health Organization’s groundbreaking tobacco control treaty","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"September 27, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"A very interesting article from Foreign Affairs on something I knew very little about, honestly -- the World Health Organization's groundbreaking Framework Convention for Tobacco Control, a treaty signed by most of the nations on Earth. The FCTC was the first-ever WHO worldwide treaty. The agency had gone 50 years\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Framework Convention for Tobacco Control"","block_context":{"text":"Framework Convention for Tobacco Control","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=717"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/wipfli_thankyoufornotsmoking_berlincigarettewarnings.jpg?fit=800%2C532&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/wipfli_thankyoufornotsmoking_berlincigarettewarnings.jpg?fit=800%2C532&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/wipfli_thankyoufornotsmoking_berlincigarettewarnings.jpg?fit=800%2C532&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/wipfli_thankyoufornotsmoking_berlincigarettewarnings.jpg?fit=800%2C532&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3641,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3641","url_meta":{"origin":3395,"position":5},"title":"BBC investigation: British American Tobacco bribing government officials in the Third World","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"December 4, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"This is part of an ongoing series of articles about Big Tobacco's desire to expand into emerging markets in the Third World -- mostly Africa and South Asia -- because of the decline of smoking rates in the West. This awesome piece by BBC, with the help of a corporate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "BBC"","block_context":{"text":"BBC","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=749"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/BAT.jpg?fit=620%2C388&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/BAT.jpg?fit=620%2C388&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/BAT.jpg?fit=620%2C388&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3395"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3399,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3395\/revisions\/3399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}