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20 Aug, 2015

Tobacco company wants schools survey for insights into children and teens

Sydney – A global tobacco giant is using freedom of information laws to obtain data from surveys by thousands of Victorian school children and teenagers that reveal their attitudes to smoking and alcohol.

Public health advocates believe “Big Tobacco” may use the data to hone their marketing of cigarettes to teenagers, as well as to fight plain packaging laws first implemented in Australia and now being introduced across the globe. There are also concerns the data could be shared with alcohol companies.

The same corporate lawyer who is seeking the Victorian information on behalf of British American Tobacco has also recently used the FOI Act to obtain Cancer Institute NSW research into adults’ attitudes to smoking.

Read the rest: http://www.smh.com.au/national/tobacco-company-wants-schools-survey-for-insights-into-children-and-teens-20150819-gj2vto.html#ixzz3jMDg7BsL