Tobacco Whistleblower to Keynote Tobacco Use Prevention Conference
Jeffrey Wigand, PhD, the insider scientist whose disclosure of tobacco industry executives’ systematic public deception and lies under oath to Congress brought death threats to his children, will keynote the Montana Tobacco Use Prevention Program’s (MTUPP) annual statewide conference in Bozeman, May 7-8.
Wigand’s harrowing experiences were the subject of the 1999 hit movie, ‘The Insider’.
The conference, entitled ‘From the Inside Out: Taking Smokefree Montana to Heart,’ will explore statewide efforts to protect Montanans from exposure to deadly secondhand smoke, says Linda Lee, section supervisor of the Montana Tobacco Use Prevention Program for the Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS.)
“We know that Montanans want to exercise their right to breathe clean air, free from tobacco smoke,” Lee says. “This conference will gather tobacco prevention professionals and others to honor that right and to protect public health.”
Wigand’s keynote address, ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much,’ slated for 9 a.m., Wednesday, May 7, at Bozeman’s Hilton Garden Inn, is titled after the 1996 Vanity Fair article of the same name, which was the basis for the movie about him.
Wigand is the former vice president for research and development at Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., who leaked insider information to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. He was one of the first tobacco whistleblowers to describe how the tobacco industry secretly hid research results, manipulated nicotine in its products, and used toxic additives, including rat poison, to ensure that users would be satisfied with taste and become lifelong addicts.
Wigand later became a key witness in a multi-billion dollar lawsuit waged by all but four U.S. states – the largest case of its kind in U.S. history. The states sought compensation for billions in expenditures in state Medicaid dollars to care for people with smoking-related diseases.
MTUPP is funded in large part with a portion of the money Montana receives annually as a result of the lawsuit settlement, known as the Master Settlement Agreement.
“This conference will focus on the health risks associated with exposure to secondhand smoke and how Montanans can involve one another to protect their right to breathe clean air,” said DPHHS director Joan Miles. “Every year 1,500 Montanans die because of tobacco and at least 200 of those are non-users who die because of exposure to secondhand smoke.”
Conference organizers hope to prepare participants to engage new allies and partners to work for a smokefree Montana and engage decision makers in addressing the tobacco addiction epidemic in Montana.
“Montanans overwhelmingly support smokefree air,” Lee adds. “As a matter of protecting public health, we need to continue to cultivate their support as we educate every Montanan about the harm to health from secondhand smoke exposure.”
Featured conference speakers in addition to Wigand include the following:
- Vincent DeMarco, national coordinator of Faith United Against Tobacco, a nationwide campaign to mobilize faith communities to support proven solutions to reduce smoking, will present ‘Faith Leaders and Smokefree Air: A Match Made in Heaven,’ Wednesday, May 7, at 10:45 a.m.
- René Hicks, a comedy club veteran performing in clubs across the U.S. and internationally, will present ‘Secondhand Smoke is No Joke,’ Wednesday, May 7, at 1 p.m. Hicks, who uses her comedy to make a difference in people's lives, is a lung cancer survivor – a non-smoker who developed the disease from exposure to secondhand smoke.
- Robert Shepard, M.D., medical director of New West Health Services and member of Montana’s Tobacco Prevention Advisory Board, will present ‘The Helena Heart Study Times 10’ Thursday, May 8, at 8:45 a.m. The Helena Heart Study, published in 2004 in the prestigious British Medical Journal and now replicated nationally and internationally, revealed dramatically reduced heart attacks in communities that require smokefree air in indoor public locations.
The conference will be moderated by Bruce W. Adkins, director of the Division of Tobacco Prevention at the West Virginia Bureau for Public Health.
The conference is open to the public, but pre-registration is required. For more information and a complete agenda, please visit http://umt.edu/ce/cps/MTUPPAnnualConference.htm.
MTUPP works to address the public health crisis caused by the use of all forms of commercial tobacco products, and to eliminate tobacco use, especially among young people, via programs and policies throughout Montana.
For more information call Lee at 406-444-9617 or 406-431-4505.
Page last updated: 05/05/2008
