India not doing enough on tobacco, says Insider Wigand
Stating that there was irrefutable data linking tobacco consumption with addiction, noted tobacco industry whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand on Monday said there was enough knowledge in public domain for India's elected officials to do something about tobacco addiction in the interest of "public health, safety and dignity of the country's people".
"The data is irrefutable — tobacco kills and the government knows it. It definitely needs to do more when it comes to tobacco consumption," Wigand, speaking at a conference here on public health, said.
Wigand rose to prominence in the 90s when he blew the whistle on American tobacco companies, making public knowledge that they not only knew smoking was addictive, but that they also ran extensive campaigns to conceal the information.
His story would inspire The Insider, a 1999 thriller-drama starring Russell Crowe as Wigand, playing the role of a tobacco company researcher who comes under personal attacks for revealing the deceptions of the tobacco industry.
A healthcare professional by heart and vocation, Wigand shocked friends and colleagues when he decided to join Brown & Williamson, America's third largest cigarette company, as its R&D director. "I thought I would have an opportunity to make a difference and work on a safer cigarette," he said.
But his optimism quickly turned to disillusionment when he realized that despite knowing tobacco was addictive privately, top bosses at various cigarette companies stated the opposite in public. "It was like being schizophrenic. You were aware and not aware, and it bothered me. How they twisted facts to meet their needs," he recalls.
On asking uncomfortable questions, he was fired. What followed thereafter were two years of personal struggle that eventually led him to break his confidentiality agreement with B&W, and become one of the famous whistleblowers in American history.
His decision, though, came at great cost. His home was broken into, he received death threats, and was forced to abandon his home and live secretly in various hotels.
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