Using new legal protections to energize whistleblowing against the tobacco industry as a way to advance public health

Whistleblowers hold the unique position of being closest to the inner workings of companies whose activities cause damage to public health. As such, they can be powerful tools for advancing public health because they are able to expose the secrets that the companies have tried so hard to suppress. Tobacco industry whistleblowers can help prove, for example, that the tobacco industry produces a product that is not only toxic but purposely constructed to be addictive and marketed to society's most vulnerable targets, particularly youth. It's no surprise, therefore, that the tobacco companies have tried to prevent whistleblowing through intimidation and smear campaigns. Access to this information will help public health advocates reinforce their message that the tobacco industry is a menace and a danger to the public's health, and press for appropriate remedies through litigation and regulation.

This presentation will shed light on the lengths to which the tobacco industry has gone to discredit whistleblowers in order to keep smokers, litigators and regulators from finding out the truth about what the tobacco industry knows regarding the health effects of smoking. It will also describe the new Sarbanes/Oxley laws that have been passed to offer greater protection to whistleblowers and to create a proactive duty for tobacco company lawyers to become whistleblowers themselves.