Matthew Beasley
Blog#4
The Few that Control
Tobacco
Throughout most of the world smoking
is on the rise, with an expected increase from the current 1.1
billion smokers to upwards of 1.64 billion smokers by 2025. For some
it may come as a surprise that with all the smoking, 81% of tobacco
market share is owned by only 6 companies. This creates a huge gap between the farmers that grow the product and the companies that produce the end result. Even more surprising is
that Philip Morris is the only American based company on the list.
While Philip Morris international(NYC) is ranked second, they as a
company have divided there markets into those located within the US
and international profits that are made overseas. This is a way for
them to evade taxes here in the United States. Also clever to
Americas name recognition of their brand, and the likely negative
connotation, they have decided to rename the America sect of Philip
Morris, with a new company name called the Altria Group. The Altria
Group coincidentally is number 6 on this list, so in essence the
Morris brand holds 2 of the top 6 tobacco companies in the world.
The number one position now belongs to China National Tobacco
corporation, which is also a state owned company. With over 16
billion in annual profits going to the state, it leaves little doubt
that the Chinese will continue to smoke for many years to come. In
third place is the British American Tobacco who rake in 4.2 billion
in annual profit. With 1.5 billion in annual profit Japan Tobacco
International ranks 4th in the world; while 5th
belongs to Imperial tobacco who sees 2 billion a year in profit from
tobacco sales.
All told the “big 6” rake in 35.1
billion dollars in profit
every year. These tobacco companies have a great deal of influence
in many parts of the world, but hopefully the tides are changing.
Some countries(not individuals) are seeking to sue these companies
for the ills smoking leaves behind in their country. The Canadian
Superior court is suing Japan Tobacco International to recoup some of
its countries massive smoking related healthcare costs, and the
Nigerian government has filed a 42.4 billion dollar lawsuit against
British America Tobacco in association with their healthcare related
problems based on smoking. With over 480,000 smoking related deaths
in the USA alone, hopefully we will be creating a lawsuit of our own
in the near future. Ever present of these potential risks, Phillip
Morris USA is still the second most active lobbying organization in
America with over 101 million dollars dispersed through Congress from
1998-2004. With the “big 6” making more profit than Coca-Cola,
Microsoft, and McDonald’s combined, it is easy to see that this
money is a splash in the bucket to one of these companies. These
companies are willing to lose money to be able to stay entrenched in
both the society and the culture of any nation that will allow it.
We as a society and other places that form societies around the world
have to do more than rely on our governments to protect us and our
children from the profiteering of capitalists that will gladly cause
harm to our citizens for some more pennies in their bucket. It is
scary thought that the Chinese government has a blatantly vested
interest in the proliferation of death onto its own people by
tobacco. Healthcare and increasing the economic divide are just 2 of the many social components that these companies could care less about.
