JPE Commission
Commission's Resolution for Provincial Chapter
Meetings
Jim Zelinski, Director of the Office, attended the meeting of the Capuchin Conference JPE Commission meeting in Toronto, May 5-8. Click here for the unofficial notes.
Corporate Responsibility
Altria CEO says breakup is possible
JEFFREY GOLD
Associated Press
EAST HANOVER, N.J. - Altria Group Inc., the giant tobacco company that also controls Kraft Foods Inc., is "making detailed preparations for restructuring," its chairman told shareholders on Thursday.
Chairman and CEO Louis C. Camilleri said "the precise timing and chronology are uncertain, and continuing improvement in the entire litigation environment is a prerequisite to such action by the board of directors."
He said he was commenting on the possibility of "separating Altria into two, or potentially three, strong and independent entities." He gave no further details.
Altria shares rose 44 cents to $65.28 in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Shareholders of Altria were again greeted by anti-tobacco protesters as they arrived for their annual meeting.
About 80 adults and teens from various states waved black balloons and chanted, "Hey hey, ho ho, big tobacco's gotta go." Behind them was a 15-foot tall inflated cigarette pack in the Marlboro design, but instead of the brand name it read, "50 years of death."
"We're just trying to spread the word that the tobacco companies are marketing toward youth," said Kaylee Walker, 15, a ninth-grader at Livonia Central High School in Livonia, N.Y. Her voice was hoarse from shouting at cars entering the corporate campus.
An hour later, Altria chairman and CEO Louis C. Camilleri told about 300 stockholders that it supports youth anti-smoking programs in 70 countries, and "responsibly markets its products to adult smokers."
Some demonstrators accused Altria, the maker of Marlboro and other cigarettes that was formerly known as Philip Morris, of attempting to subvert a global treaty aimed at reducing smoking.
Others urged shareholders to approve several resolutions, all opposed by management, including one that would create a program to keep pregnant women from being sold cigarettes.
That resolution, offered by a religious order, the Sisters of Mercy, suggested that since the fetus can be harmed by smoking, merchants should be trained to ask women if they are pregnant, much as they now ask customers their age to determine if they can purchase cigarettes.
The board of New York-based Altria, in its statement to shareholders, said such a program "may improperly impinge upon consumers' privacy rights and place retailers in the untenable position of attempting to intrude upon the individual rights of adult purchasers without legal or regulatory authority to do so."
Altria is the parent of Richmond, Va.-based Philip Morris USA, which dominates the tobacco market worldwide with about 20 brands, including Marlboro and Parliament.
Another resolution, proposed by another order, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, would have the company stop selling so-called light, mild and ultralight brands.
The board responded that the company has advised smokers since 2003 that "there is no such thing as a safe cigarette, that smoking is addictive and dangerous, that smokers should not assume that lower tar cigarettes are safer or better for them or will help them quit, and that the tar and nicotine numbers will not necessarily reflect the amount of tar and nicotine they inhale because people do not smoke like the machines used in the test methods."
A resolution offered by another religious group, the Province of St. Joseph of the Capuchin Order, urged the company to adopt the New York state law requiring "fire safe" products. That law, meant to reduce smoking-related fires with cigarettes that go out if they are not puffed on regularly, took effect in June.
In response, the board said it supports federal legislation that would apply to all cigarettes sold in the country to avoid a "patchwork of inconsistent and conflicting state regulations."
The remaining resolution, offered by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, would eliminate animal testing of tobacco products.
The board said that because of "overwhelming medical and scientific consensus that cigarette smoking causes serious diseases" Philip Morris is "researching ways to reduce the health risks of cigarettes." "Eliminating animal testing from the range of research approaches the companies use could significantly impair the companies' important research objectives."
The UN-based World Health Organization says tobacco is the second leading cause of death, responsible for the death of one in 10 adults worldwide, about 5 million each year. It estimates that half of the 650 million people who now smoke will eventually be killed by tobacco.
Altria owns about 85 percent of Kraft Foods Inc., the nation's largest food manufacturer, which was spun off in 2001 from Philip Morris.