Episode 2 Burning Desire: The Seduction of Smoking

generations with the allure of their deadly product and use any device

they can to attract new customers. They have a track record of not

being trustworthy. They've twisted the evidence and tried to

consistently undermined policy and they continue to try and maximise

profits. Now there's a new product, electronic cigarettes, that the

industry hopes will rebrand its image. We've been given rare access

to be 80, the world's second largest tobacco company, which says it is

committed to harm reduction by developing safer products.

E-cigarettes and tobacco harm production is central to our

business model. It is far from a publicity stunt. It's a very clear

commercial intent and the right thing to do for society to stop but

some health campaigners see e-cigarette is a cynical smoke

screen. I think they will use e-cigarettes to present a mob of

nine face to the public and they will use it as a marketing tool. --

a more benign face. Marketing is what makes its millions so while it

puts on a face in the West, it's a different story in the developing

countries. I've spent nearly forty years

investigating the tobacco industry and seen how little has changed

in the developing world. The industry claims it markets

responsibly, but the claim often seems as hollow

today as it did way back then. In East Timor,

one of the poorest countries in the world, we found cigarette companies

selling their brands dirt-cheap. Young people are smoking more and

more each year, especially boys. And we investigate how,

across the globe, the industry uses its legal muscle to crush any

opposition that stands in its way. They hope that use of the law can

bully small countries out of taking action on smoking and introducing

measures that those companies fear. So has the industry really turned

over a new leaf, or is it still intent on burning

tobacco and seducing the young? And these are no

ordinary cigarettes. They're electronic or e-cigarettes,

based on nicotine. Because they're tobacco-free,

they can legally be used in pubs, offices and most places where real

cigarettes are banned. To the tobacco industry,

these devices are revolutionary. They could save thousands

of lives and even make smoking The irony is they're based

on the drug that was once One puff,

and they'll soon be in my grasp. If we're able to take consumers

and give them the nicotine that they enjoy, the pleasure they derive

from nicotine in lower harm, a safer product, then that has to be the

right thing to do I'm a non-smoker, and needed

a guide to lead me through the haze Oliver Kershaw is the founder of an

online forum dedicated to promoting He doesn't smoke regular

cigarettes any more. He gets his kick

from inhaling nicotine vapor. I don't really know how to smoke,

but I'd be interested just try one. The nicotine is contained within

a small cartridge inside here, and as you puff on it, an automatic

switch will feed through to a small heating coil which will heat the

solution and produce the vapour. The range of devices is astonishing,

from the classic cigarette to more They're all based on liquid nicotine

that comes in every flavor under the sun - from tobacco to toffee,

from cherry to chocolate. What is the popularity

of these devices? It's a drop in the ocean compared

to the overall tobacco sales. But the central thing is the

explosion in interest right now. My first reaction was how strange to

go into a pub and see clouds But not everyone hails

the revolution. You've been vaping,

I've had the odd vape. By law we can do it wherever we like

because in private establishments like pubs, it's at the discretion

of whoever runs the pub. They've said their staff are

confused, they don't know As a society,

I suppose we have to adjust to a new form of behaviour that we are

not quite au fait with yet. It's estimated just over two million

vapers currently use e-cigarettes in the UK, three times

the number of two years ago. Well, that was a really interesting

experience and I did learn a lot. What's astonishing is

the vast variety, the mind-boggling But in

the end how successful these devices will be and how e-cigarettes will be

will depend on smokers themselves. The first e-cigarettes were produced

by small independents with no links But very quickly the big tobacco

companies saw their potential. E-cigarettes one

of the most exciting innovations in And I think the current e-cigarettes

do appeal to many cigarette smokers. BAT was the first tobacco company to

launch an e-cigarette in the UK. At its research labs in Southampton,

it's committed to harm reduction, and is spending ?160 million every

year on improving new, E-cigarettes don't perform

particularly well yet, but I'm convinced that with

technology they will improve and provide an increasingly

consumer-acceptable alternative to British American Tobacco believes

nicotine is no more harmful than The safety of nicotine is

very similar to caffeine. There are round 100 toxicants

in cigarette smoke, and it is those toxicants that are the cause

of the real serious diseases But unlike caffeine, which is

only mildly addictive, nicotine Professor Sir Cyril Chantler headed

a Government inquiry He is one of the country's leading

paediatricians, and has studied and experienced

the effects of nicotine on smokers. And it's addictive both

psychologically, but it's And we know understand far better

than we did before the effect, the mechanisms on the brain,

receptors that lead to that level I know personally it's

very difficult to give up. How did a doctor

and a paediatrician become Well, if I knew then what I know

now, I wouldn't have started. For the tobacco industry,

producing a safer way of delivering a nicotine hit could, with

the right product, hit the jackpot. A tremendous number of people will

simply adapt to it because they So that combination to be able to

have this near monopoly on a delivery

of an addictive product used by over a billion people, extraordinary

in terms of profitability. There's no guarantee there's

a king's ransom to be made, but the industry knows it ignores

the vaping revolution at its cost. It's seen what's happened to other

companies left high and dry Digital cameras wiped out most of

Kodak's business almost overnight. All of the tobacco companies talk

in terms of Kodak moments. That the technology changes

and either you change as a company to move with this new technology or

you risk getting left behind. So swift has been the rise

of e-cigarettes that regulation has The result is a free-for-all with

advertisers having a field day. It's absolutely reminiscent of

the heyday of tobacco advertising. It's about lifestyle,

it's about being cool, it's about It's the sports sponsorship, the

product placement in music videos. This is the stuff of dreams

for the tobacco companies. We haven't had

a tobacco advertisement or a cigarette advertisement,

at least in the UK, since 1965. This is an exciting moment

if you're a tobacco company. I think it's a more sombre moment

if you're in public health. BAT was the first tobacco company to

advertise its e-cigarette on British It's as glossy

as any cigarette ad used to be - not surprising when the campaign

cost several million pounds. It's not legal to advertise or use

product placement for conventional cigarettes in the

UK, and there are plans to extend But

at the moment it's a free-for-all. Lily Allen, a celebrity role model

for the young, claims her provocative video is meant to be a

parody of misogyny, but it's also an advert for E-Lites, currently one of

the UK's best selling e-cigarettes. It is extremely explicit, very cool,

and in that, right in the middle of it is

a placement for an e-cigarette. It's positioning e-cigarettes

as a very attractive, fashionable, I'm personally worried

about the advertising of them because it might cause confusion

in young people's minds about I have absolutely no doubt that

e-cigarettes are the most brilliant marketing device for tobacco that

we've seen in a long, long time. I see e-cigarettes as, if you like,

a weapon of mass distraction. A means for the tobacco companies of

distracting us from what we actually need to do, and we know we should

do, to reduce smoking. The concern among many anti-tobacco campaigners

is that e-cigarettes could once more make cigarettes socially acceptable.

E-Lites were launched in 2009. They may not be owned by a tobacco

company, but they're being marketed 30 years ago I filmed

John Player Special girls doing exactly the same kind of thing at

an amusement park in Scarborough. Free draw for cigarette

smokers to win a Lotus. Little appears to have changed

except of course the cigarettes. E-Lites cigarettes, guys,

would you like to try one? And do you want to try

and stop smoking? I've just had a serious chest

complaint, so I've got to stop now. E-Lites are at the top

of their league, and sponsor Worcester Warriors rugby

team who, unfortunately, On match day I talked to one of

E-Lites' founders, Adrian Everett. Last year he spent nearly ?5 million

on marketing, Just looking around

at all the advertisements for E-Lites, and it's going to be

on television as well, it's like going back 50 years when you could

advertise cigarettes on television. When you're building a brand

for smokers, You're associating a cigarette,

albeit an e-cigarette with Aren't you normalising the habit

of smoking? There have been criticisms

of electronic cigarette sponsorships Because it's such a new market and

a new product, one of the fastest ways to reach a larger audience is

through sport sponsorship. But for the tobacco industry it

could be a win-win situation. Advertising its e-cigarettes may

attract more vapers, but if vaping does normalise the smoking

habit, then that's potentially more When you see advertisements

for e-cigarettes, what hits you about them is that it

normalises the habit of smoking. I don't believe that our advertising

or even our e-cigarettes will I think the opposite is true,

actually, in that offering cigarette smokers this safer alternative will

be a good thing for public health. It's likely to lead to more people

quitting cigarette smoking and migrating to safer alternatives

like e-cigarettes. E-cigarettes now threaten

an unprecedented split in the anti-tobacco lobby,

which for so long has been united Many don't trust

the industry's motives. They fear e-cigarettes could be

a gateway for the young into There's a danger,

particularly with the very evocative marketing of these things, they get

children interested in the use of nicotine and thereby smoking as well

as e-cigarettes, but use nicotine But other health campaigners welcome

the potential of e-cigarettes to save lives by encouraging smokers to

quit conventional cigarettes. If they show signs through deeds not

just words that they're moving into these products and they're trying to

change their business into a nicotine business that is far, far

less harmful to health, then I think that's something that should be

cautiously welcomed I mean the problem is, if you just

shut them out of everything and say they're just unequivocally

and unambiguously evil, they always have been and they always will be,

there's nowhere for them to go. There's no doubt e-cigarettes

are helping lifelong addicts. As we saw in last week's programme,

Dianne Marshall finally stopped smoking when she was diagnosed with

lung cancer for the second time. You say you're not smoking now,

you've finally stopped. I'm all right, thank you, I use

me vaper, my vaporiser like this. With just vapour in,

it's got nicotine in which is actually what you become

addicted to when you're smoking. So how would you describe that

and what it's done for you? Well, it's helped me

a lot cos it's helped me to stop Dianne is typical

of many smokers who've given up with the help of e-cigarettes, to

the satisfaction of many doctors. Dr John Ashcroft, a GP, is so

convinced of their benefit he's even gone into the e-cigarette business

himself and opened his own shop. It's right next door to his surgery,

situated in one of the most deprived areas of Derbyshire where

adult smoking rates are almost twice I think these are

the greatest invention that we've I spent 20 years trying to stop

people smoking and trying to help them, and all of a sudden patients I

have prescribed tablets, nicotine replacements, and have gone back to

smoking, have come along having But are you saying to

your patients that these are safe? It's surprising to hear a doctor

saying any cigarette is safe. His shop, which opened last year,

is an Aladdin's cave of e-cigarette products

and all that goes with them. You are not using it

as a means to stop smoking? I haven't had a fag for months since

I've had it, never touched a fag. Will you reach the point where

you actually stop vaporising? But isn't the danger that

if young people start using these things, we are breeding a whole new

generation of nicotine addicts. I guess that's always a risk,

but I haven't seen any evidence What I've seen is people stopping

and using electronic cigarettes. Recent research suggests that

nearly all e-cigarette users There's no evidence

so far they're a gateway But, with tobacco claiming one

victim every five minutes in the UK, No one is more aware

of the risks associated with conventional cigarettes than

Professor John Britton. He's campaigned against tobacco

for years. E-cigarettes and other nicotine

delivery devices that are sort of in development are an immensely

powerful potential tool for the good The problem is it will take many

years before we know whether We don't know that,

and at the moment the problem with the whole e-cigarette market is the

complete lack of regulation, which has the strength on the one hand

that it opens the market up to a lot But on the other hand it's very hard

personally to recommend a product But what we do know about

the way that electronic cigarettes work is that they cannot conceivably

be as hazardous as tobacco. If e-cigarettes could come in

and take half the cigarette market, or perhaps even more then it would

make huge inroads amounting to hundreds of millions

of avoided premature deaths. And that would be one

of the biggest public health Despite e-cigarettes' small market

share, tobacco companies like BAT remain

confident about the future of less Some investment analysts say they

will overtake conventional cigarettes in the next decade, but

others in the anti-tobacco lobby believe this is all a smokescreen to

hide the industry's real agenda. companies are several decades.

Despite the rhetoric, they are still promoting their lethal products as

heavily as they can, especially in developing countries. With ever

increasing regulation and smoking declining in the West, the

developing word offers the industry vast and hugely profitable new

markets. Eight out of ten of the world's 1 billion smokers live in

low income and middle-income countries, where restrictions are

often limited or virtually nonexistent. Here, e-cigarettes are

nowhere to be seen. I flew to East Timor, the country

with one of the highest smoking rates in the world. It's just a few

hundred miles from the northern tip of Australia. In comparison with

Australia, which has some of the strictest anti-smoking laws on the

planet, East Timor has virtually none.

I went to see how cigarette companies exploit a wide-open market

where nearly half the population is under 15.

East Timor is one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia and it

is a different world. Here, a packet of 20 costs less than ?1. You can

smoke anywhere you want to and advertising is everywhere.

The motion of tobacco control has yet to hit East Timor. Here, the

industry has free rein, with no restrictions on advertising and the

Marlboro cowboys still riding the range.

Young people are smoking more and more each year, especially young

male people. It's a very serious problem. 61% of young males smoke

every day. Legislation is nowhere. This package is $1. One US dollar.

That is less than ?1. And health warnings are useless, too, because

half the adult population cannot read. I also noticed that a lot of

the schools I walked past had empty packets. They sell individual

cigarette will stop --. One cigarette is 10 cents. For is 25

cents. And who buys them? Everybody. The absence of legislation or

restrictions give the industry carte blanche to seduce young smokers.

Last year, these posters appeared all over the capital. They are

advertisements for a cigarette brand. They show a pretty cool

looking guy dressed in black leather sitting across a motorbike, and the

slogan is proud of yourself. What is interesting is that none of these

posters contained any health warning. After protests from health

campaigners, the posters were taken down, and then put up again, this

time with a small health warning. But the health lobby does have a

friend in a high place. The Prime Minister's Australian wife, a

committed anti-cancer campaign. Tobacco companies are targeting

young people who are conscious of image, conscious of the cool factor,

if you like. How old? Ten, 11. Part of the problem is that smoking

is as much a part of East Timor's culture as cockfighting. I notice a

lot of people are smoking. Why is that?

Despite being an unrepentant smoker himself, Arthur is concerned about

the young. Have you noticed more and more young people beginning to smoke

over the last few years? Absolutely. Ten, 11 years.

And smoking is part of East Timor's revolutionary culture, too. The

guerrilla leader who helped lead to independence was incarcerated here.

Cigarettes kept him going when he was fighting in the bush. The former

insurgent is now the Prime Minister, seeing off his wife and children on

the morning school run. Are you still smoking? Unfortunately. I have

to say unfortunately because sometimes you would like to quit.

And the Prime Minister follows the tobacco industry's line on

advertising, opposing any ban. Looking around, there are

advertisements for cigarettes everywhere, by the roadside, on all

the posters. Do you have plans to ban advertising of cigarettes?

I remember tobacco companies using 40 years ago.

What happens in East Timor's schools is scandalous.

I've witnessed first-hand teachers who smoke

writing "A" and then they have people repeat "A",

and while they repeat "A", they have a puff and then

The whole school system has absolutely no

East Timor's hospitals are not yet full of patients suffering

as its young people, increasingly addicted to Western cigarettes,

Traditionally, tuberculosis is the biggest killer -

a disease Dr Dan Murphy has been treating for the past 20 years.

But now he's concerned about a future epidemic.

How do you think young people regard smoking?

The young people are learning that what they're supposed to do

to be western and advanced is to smoke cigarettes

and so young people, if they have access to enough money,

Now we have to change their whole way of thinking

and start worrying about tomorrow, the next day.

How do you see East Timor's smoking future?

Well, I'm afraid we're going to have to go through a phase of

learning the hard lesson that been seen throughout poor countries.

He should stop. I recommend that he stop.

is genuinely committed to tackling the smoking problem?

These are the major lobbyists in our country.

They can make it seem like it's not what we are talking about -

it's a something that's a pleasure, something that adds

to your life and puts meaning on your life.

You're up against a machine of propaganda

For cigarettes, for smoking, the images.

In most of the world, government regulation has increasingly

but the industry continues to find ingenious ways to seduce smokers.

It has a long tradition of spending billions targeting new customers.

In the past it even used children's cartoons to sell cigarettes.

Gee, we ought to do something, Fred.

Let's take a Winston break. That's it!

For decades, iconic ads like these

were the daily wallpaper of our lives.

The international passport to smoking pleasure.

They were everywhere. Some Benson and Hedges ads were surreal,

All were designed to convince us that cigarettes were desirable,

The Marlboro Cowboy is one of the most powerful images

in cigarette advertising history.

It's helped make Marlboro the number-one brand in the world

and corralled billions of dollars for Philip Morris.

The Marlboro cowboy, like all cigarette ads

in the majority of western countries, is now banned.

No, you don't see many wild stallions any more.

But Philip Morris, the world's biggest tobacco company,

has invested millions developing the Marlboro Cowboy's successor -

that pushes advertising restrictions to the limit.

Be Marlboro is aimed unashamedly at young people, telling them

not to shilly-shally around but to be decisive - be Marlboro.

This worldwide campaign was launched in Germany in 2011,

where cigarette advertising is still allowed

And videos were soon on the internet,

The ads feature images of sex, freedom and adventure.

The subliminal message is, "Take risks".

Dietmar Jazbinsek is one of the campaigners who challenged

Phillip Morris says the young people featured

are all over 30 - but that's not how they strike health campaigners.

you will see someone with typical teenage clothing.

You will see someone jumping in the river or lake

but what you can't see is the face of the photo model.

And this makes it easy for teenagers

to identify with the person depicted.

In our view they are specially designed to appeal to

But Philip Morris say that they don't aim these

advertisements at under-age smokers.

They say that all their photo models are 30 years and older.

In reality, they use every trick to make the outer appearance

of these models something which resembles to a teenager.

and internet videos showed a high degree of sophistication.

The whole slogan is an encouragement to start smoking.

"Don't be a maybe." This means, "Take a risk,"

and everyone, even if he's 14 years old, has heard in school

or by his parents that it's a risk to start smoking,

so take this risk, start smoking -

that's the main message of the Be Marlboro campaign.

A German court responded to the health lobby's concerns

Philip Morris objected and is taking legal action to fight

that Be Marlboro does encourage adolescents to smoke.

Phillip Morris had also rolled out Be Marlboro across the rest

of the world - in countries where cigarette advertising is allowed.

We can find the same, or similar, cigarette advertising

in Switzerland, in Greece, in Russia in Brazil and Indonesia.

I can't see how you can quarantine 15-to-18-year-olds

if you're marketing for the appeal of your particular brand,

And there is a lot of evidence from various cases in the past

between advertising and young people starting to smoke.

Philip Morris declined to be interviewed but said it only

markets its cigarettes to adult smokers, to encourage them

to switch brands, and does everything it can to ensure this.

And young people are at the heart of the World Health Organisation's

Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

The Convention is a series of tough and wide-ranging objectives

that most countries have signed up to, including the UK.

if the recommendations are to mean anything.

And the industry is always ready to exploit any loopholes.

Argentina has one of the highest smoking rates

as do a quarter of all teenagers between 13 and 15.

And 100 smokers a day die prematurely. It's a rich market.

Philip Morris has around a 70% share and BAT around 20%.

Argentina has paid lip service to the Framework Convention.

Its government signed up a decade ago,

There are restrictions on smoking and restrictions on tobacco.

although you can smoke in the street,

and there are restrictions on advertising -

the only place you're allowed to advertise cigarettes

National law says advertisements should not be visible

Just walking down one of the city's main shopping streets,

For tobacco industry, advertising at the point of sale is crucial.

In Argentina they expanded the point of sale,

taking advantage of a loophole in the legislation,

selling cigarettes in many other places

which allowed them to put advertisements also in these places

and the visibility of this advertising increased

The law also prohibits smoking in enclosed public places.

but at night-time, it's a different story.

What did you find when you carried out research

In the city of Buenos Aires we evaluated 40 discos

but, strictly in the interests of research, I thought I'd better

hit the city's nightspots and breathe in the atmosphere.

In the clubs, you'd never guess there were

restrictions on smoking and advertising.

Because cigarettes can be bought behind the bar, Philip Morris

maximises the opportunity to advertise around the club.

They told us Argentinian law permits cigarette advertising

including nightclubs and pool halls,

And said that local laws allow advertising inside kiosks to

there was a blatant advertisement for BAT's Pall Mall.

I went to a couple of clubs and in one of the clubs,

there was a large advertisement for your brand Pall Mall

in the middle of the club, in the middle of the dance floor.

And yet advertising in Argentina is by and large banned,

so what's that advertisement doing there?

I'm not clear on the absolute specifics

I will check out what the regulations are

and I will discuss them with our local company management.

But let me say that BAT is absolutely committed to

BAT's local management said the advertisement complied with

Philip Morris was radiating from the wall

My night on the town showed just how blatantly cigarette companies

can exploit the law to promote their brands

And what about a bar with "no smoking" warnings on the wall?

There is a sign on the wall that says smoking is prohibited.

So why are you smoking when you shouldn't be?

And when they do, when inspectors come round

and see you smoking, what do they say?

It's illegal to smoke, so why do you smoke in here?

In there, there are lots of young people smoking.

They're all breaking the law, they know they are breaking the law

but they couldn't care less, because the law is simply isn't enforced.

And it's not just a question of the law.

Why hasn't the government increased the price of cigarettes?

that consumption goes down as the price of cigarettes goes up.

The only reason is tobacco industry lobby.

From 24 provinces, we have 7 are tobacco growers.

And the lobby in the congress is many times developed through

these governors, with the argument that any increase in tobacco price

or any other tobacco control policy

will damage their regional economies,

It was the same argument that I'd heard from BAT nearly

35 years ago when I made a film about their operations in Brazil.

Tobacco is also a crucial part of Brazil's economy.

The fact is that if the third world were to discourage

the growing of tobacco, the people who would suffer in the long term

would not be the farmers but the big tobacco companies.

Argentina is the second-largest tobacco grower in South America -

that's why the tobacco lobby is so powerful.

In Buenos Aires, tobacco has the ear of government

and has a million political and economic reasons for doing so.

That's the number of people employed in the industry,

Tobacco has little time for the Framework Convention.

Buenos dias, senor. Peter Taylor, BBC.

the World Health Organisation Framework Convention?

TRANSLATION: For the union and in defence of our jobs,

I have to say we are against that framework,

because it would affect our source of employment.

Isn't the health of the citizens of Argentina more important

than the commercial interests of the tobacco industry?

TRANSLATION: Obviously I worry for all the Argentineans' health,

but we're talking about a product that is always destined for adults.

I believe that adults should decide for themselves

If the climate for tobacco is friendly in Argentina,

the climate in neighbouring Uruguay is distinctly hostile.

So hostile that Philip Morris is suing Uruguay -

its government claimed originally for an estimated ?2 billion.

But Philip Morris says that's wildly inflated

and the true figure is $25 million.

The reason is because Uruguay has the most stringent

anti-smoking legislation in South America

and was the first country on the continent

to ban smoking in enclosed public places.

Unlike Argentina, the law is strictly enforced.

No-one smokes in the covered market in Montevideo -

one of the capital's gastronomic must-visits.

But when the government increased health warnings

Philip Morris took legal action - claiming the warnings infringed

its intellectual property rights and commercial freedom.

Uruguay is a relatively small country,

so they hope that use of the law can bully small countries out of taking

action on smoking and introducing measures that those companies fear.

They want to prevent the domino effect.

This is one of the old tobacco kiosks in central Montevideo.

And here are all the cigarette packets,

and here are all the 80% warnings on the front and back.

When you look at these, you can understand why Phillip Morris take

such strong objection to the 80% of the warnings

and why they want to teach Uruguay a lesson.

The architect of Uruguay's anti-tobacco legislation was

Professor Tabare Vazquez, who was president at the time.

TRANSLATION: We have more than 1,000 deaths per year

due to lung cancer caused by tobacco.

For us, smoking is the worst pandemic

Why did you introduce warnings on packs that cover 80% of the pack?

TRANSLATION: We wanted to impact strongly on people's consciousness,

to make them understand even more clearly

The campaign featuring the new larger health warnings

was devised by one of Uruguay's leading ad agencies.

TRANSLATION: For women there are some designs talking about looks

For men, the designs are linked to impotence.

Phillip Morris's legal onslaught on Uruguay is also aimed

TRANSLATION: I think they used Uruguay as a guinea pig,

and took it to an international court to serve as a warning to other

countries in the area that are starting to follow Uruguay's path.

TRANSLATION: We are confronting a giant,

like the fight between David and Goliath.

Maybe there will be a second time.

Professor Vazquez is running for President again later this year.

He's probably the last person Philip Morris

wants to see in the Presidential Palace.

And Phillip Morris has already voted with its feet.

In 2011, Phillip Morris closed down its factory

Phillip Morris had had enough - it upped sticks and left.

And left Uruguay with an expensive legal action.

Phillip Morris told us the notion of litigation serving

as deterrent to others is laughable,

saying that since they lodged their claim,

more than 30 countries have increased tobacco regulation.

But the tobacco industry's legal offensive doesn't stop at Uruguay.

Australia, too, is fending off a legal attack on the same

intellectual property rights grounds -

a year and a half after it introduced plain packaging.

can spend any amount of money they like,

First, the faint hope that they might actually get a win,

but second, it can be a distraction and delay.

Legal cases take years and years and years.

then we faced a full range of legal actions,

both domestically and internationally.

or to scare us off or I think, in some instances, to try to

scare other countries off from following Australia down this path.

Ireland plans to introduce plain packaging later this year

and may be next in line for a visit from the industry's lawyers.

The Health Minister has no illusions.

I can tell you, I'm 100% convinced they're going to take legal action.

that many barristers around this town

have been retained by the tobacco industry,

so that we won't be able to avail of their services,

but we anticipated that so we have retained the best of people

But on what grounds could the tobacco industry,

cigarette companies, take legal action against your government?

They will argue that we are interfering with

It would be an extraordinary society that would put

the intellectual property rights of multinationals over

the right to life of citizens and children particularly.

This is a nation that stands on its own two feet

And the threat of legal action is likely to cross the Irish sea

The Government says it's minded to legislate

but has started a further round of consultation to show everything

to head off any potential legal challenge.

Plain packaging inherently involves the taking of what belongs to us,

Governments simply taking something which is not theirs

and taking that property as if it were their own.

If the Government does go ahead, will BAT be taking legal action?

international or UK trade legislation, then we reserve

the right to take legal action if we think it's appropriate.

"Intellectual property rights" are high-sounding words to defend

the most deadly consumer product on the planet.

Critics say it's hypocritical for an industry that

talks of corporate responsibility, and professes to care

about children, to attack legislation designed to defend them.

You see smoking packets and there's pictures on them

about lungs and children not breathing the smoke.

That's why anti-smoking groups often talk to young children -

the industry needs to recruit as smokers.

If they smoke, it's really bad for them.

Making these programmes, I've been struck by just how much

the industry has changed in the West,

not least by publicly accepting that smoking kills.

the 100 known toxicants in cigarette smoke.

and that's why smoking presents such a risk to health.

But in the rest of the world, the industry continues to seduce

hundreds of thousands of young people every year.

We have a duty of care to our young people and our children

and we should do everything we can to encourage them

not to do something they will regret in later life.

I wish the tobacco industry would just accept it.

They're decent people, so why don't they just

do their very best to help us all

reduce the risk of young people starting to smoke?

I've been struck by the tenacity of both sides fighting the war.

The industry never gives ground unless forced to

and the health lobby never gives up.

The tobacco industry cannot be trusted

and I think we need to be very skeptical about what they do

today and in the future, including with new developments.

The industry is hoping to turn the tide

with e-cigarettes and harm reduction -

but it knows that conventional cigarettes will probably continue

to produce the lion's share of its profits for many years to come.

I am extremely hopeful and extremely excited about the next 100 years.

I think that the future is about tobacco harm reduction,

whilst conventional cigarettes will remain

the mainstay of our business for a long time.

It's now almost 40 years since I began investigating smoking

Since then around 100 million smokers have died prematurely

I remember summing up my thoughts all those years ago,

when the risks were just beginning to register

You make programmes on smoking

because you feel very strongly about the subject.

All we can do as television journalists

is to make the public aware of something.

The next step is up to the smoker himself and to the government.

I never imagined back then that today, despite all

that's known about smoking's dreadful toll of death and disease,

the tobacco industry would be going from strength to strength -

with billion-dollar profits and a billion customers worldwide.

And it seems there's no immediate likelihood of that changing.

That's the burning paradox of the seduction of smoking.

as Britain's museums open up... at night.

Join us as we celebrate our ever-changing museums and galleries

Walk through the new Sam Wanamaker Playhouse