British American Tobacco
Profile
British American Tobacco is a tobacco company whose roots stretch back to tobacco sales in 1786. It is now the largest tobacco company in the world. Despite the fact that the company's own internal research showed that tobacco causes cancer, the company continued to deny this fact as recently as the 1980s. Documents leaked from Brown & Williamson (the U.S. subsidiary of British American Tobacco) in 1994 conclusively exposed “the three big lies” of the tobacco industry that 'cigarettes don’t cause cancer, nicotine is not addictive and we don’t market to kids.' Later Jeffrey Wigand, a former research executive at Brown & Williamson, blew the whistle on how the company had added chemicals like ammonia to increase the effect of nicotine in cigarettes.
cigarettes, cigars, nicotine pouches
Violations
| Top 5 Offense Groups (Groups Defined) | Penalty Total | Number of Records |
|---|---|---|
| safety-related offenses | $310,363,720 | 17 |
| financial offenses | $95,000 | 1 |
| employment-related offenses | $77,900 | 3 |
| environment-related offenses | $31,250 | 2 |
(April 8, 2021)
Stories
Activism
Over 125 Organizations Call on Social Media Companies to End All Tobacco Advertising, Including by Paid Influencers
Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids | May 22, 2019
The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is joining more than 125 public health and other organizations from 48 countries in calling on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat to immediately end the promotion of cigarettes, e-cigarettes and all other tobacco products on their platforms, including prohibiting the use of social media influencers.
Big Tobacco’s Big Profits #ActOnTobacco
Action on Smoking and Health | April 14, 2019
Today marks the start of a campaign by ASH and our partners, highlighting how Big Tobacco’s big profits continue to be built on a lethal trade and shady dealings.
Demands to divest government shares in British American Tobacco
Dhaka Tribune | October 30, 2016
The leaders of the protest urged that the government withdraw from the company and discourage investment in a sector that is harmful to human health.
& Lawsuits
Malawi farmers’ lawsuit says child labor fuels tobacco profits
Africa Times | December 21, 2020
A group of tobacco farmers in Malawi have filed a claim in British courts, alleging that years of worker exploitation and child labor violations are among the real reasons for why two tobacco firms have been so profitable.
British American Tobacco accused of bribing senior politicians in order to sabotage anti-smoking laws
Jonathan Owen | The Independent | November 30, 2019
British American Tobacco, one of Britain’s biggest companies, has been accused of bribing senior politicians and civil servants in a bid to sabotage anti-smoking laws.
In landmark case, Brazil sues top tobacco firms to recover public health costs
Reuters | May 22, 2019
Brazil is suing the world’s largest cigarette makers, British American Tobacco Plc and Philip Morris International, in a landmark case aimed at recovering the public health treatment costs of tobacco-related diseases over the last five years.
British American Tobacco is drawn into Israeli damages claim
Judy Siegel-Itzkovich | BMJ | November 12, 2005
British American Tobacco (BAT) has been added by the Jerusalem district court as a defendant in a multibillion dollar lawsuit over compensation for damage to members of Israel's largest health maintenance organisation.
Behind the mask: The real face of corporate social responsibility
Christian Aid | January 20, 2004
We have lived so long at the mercy of uncontrolled economic forces, that we have become skeptical about any plan for human emancipation.
Exposed: How billions of cigarettes end up on black markets
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists | January 31, 2000
WASHINGTON, January 31, 2000 — More than 11,000 pages of documents from BAT and its subsidiaries, including the U.S. company Brown & Williamson, were analyzed over a six-month period by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), a project of the Center for Public Integrity in ...
BAT faces landmark legal case over Malawi families' poverty wages
Sarah Boseley | The Guardian | October 31, 2019
Human rights lawyers are preparing to bring a landmark case against British American Tobacco on behalf of hundreds of children and their families forced by poverty wages to work in conditions of grueling hard labour in the fields of Malawi.
Tobacco whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand goes on the record about ‘The Insider’
Bryan Renbaum | Baltimore Post Examiner | May 10, 2015
Baltimore Post-Examiner interviewed Jeffrey S. Wigand P.h. D., former Vice President of Research & Development for Brown & Williamson (Reynolds American Inc.) from 1989-93. Today, Wigand, 72, teaches and lectures around the world and works as a consultant for various tobacco issues.
Financials
Note: Most recent list is not always the most complete list.
Croctail Subsidiary Tool using the CorpWatch API - This API uses automated parsers to extract the subsidiary relationship information from Exhibit 21 of companies' 10-K filings with the SEC.
- British American Tobacco Croctail
Click here for the latest list.
Political Influence
OpenSecrets.org Profile of British American Tobacco
& Evasion
British American Tobacco issued with £900m Dutch tax bil
Simon Goodley | The Guardian | September 20, 2019
British American Tobacco is being pursued by the Dutch authorities for £902m in unpaid taxes, as the maker of Rothmans, Dunhill and Lucky Strike cigarettes stands accused of avoiding tax on money channelled through the Netherlands.
BAT shifts nearly $1bn out of developing countries into one UK office
Tax Justice Network | April 30, 2019
For every dollar British American Tobacco (BAT) paid in tax in the countries it operates in, the giant multinational shifted more than half a dollar that would have been taxed locally to a UK subsidiary where BAT paid almost no tax.
Ashes to ashes: How British American Tobacco avoids taxes in low and middle income countries
Andres Knobel | Tax justice Network | April 20, 2019
Are tobacco companies making a fair tax contribution to the societies where their activities cause the greatest human and economic costs? We have looked at British American Tobacco.
Procurement
CorpWatch is still gathering procurement data for British American Tobacco at this time.