How much do kids count in corporate board rooms? Results from the first survey of Fortune 1000 companies.
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OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to characterize the extent of the business community's commitment to children, particularly with respect to understanding its role in assuring children's health and development, by conducting a survey of the largest US companies. METHODS: A survey of year 2001 Fortune 1000 companies was performed to determine whether their mission statements, vision statements, or guiding principles include a commitment to children; whether they employ people under the age of 18 years in the United States; whether they encourage their employees to mentor children under the age of 18 years; whether they have an affiliated philanthropic foundation; whether their company's philanthropy focuses specifically on children; and whether they participate in any activities that particularly help disadvantaged children. The survey consisted of 2 mailings followed by phone calls to companies to obtain answers to the questions listed above and answers to additional questions that asked specifically about the company's financial expenditures for parental leave, child care, and healthcare for children of employees and about the company's specific philanthropic giving aimed at helping children. Descriptive information about some of the ways that companies impact the lives of children was also obtained to provide context for the responses. RESULTS: Data were obtained from 333 year 2001 Fortune 1000 companies (33%) between March 20, 2002 and March 20, 2003, with a good representation of all industry sectors. These data suggest that approximately 33% of the companies that responded have mission statements, vision statements, or guiding principles that specifically include a commitment to children. Employment opportunities for children under the age of 18 years in the United States exist at approximately 41% of these companies. These companies clearly see mentoring as a major theme, with 77% of them encouraging their employees to mentor children under the age of 18 years. Approximately 60% of the companies that responded support affiliated, independent philanthropic foundations, and approximately 55% of companies indicated that they focus their philanthropy specifically (although not exclusively) on children. Approximately 80% of these companies indicated that they participate in at least one activity that helps disadvantaged children. Many companies faced challenges in estimating their overall investments in children, particularly given their large and decentralized nature, but they were able to provide an overall sense of their commitment and they indicated that they could provide quantitative data prospectively if they knew it would be requested. CONCLUSION: Many companies that responded play a major role in supporting children's health and development in the United States both directly and indirectly. Further efforts to better quantify the business community's aggregate commitments to improving children's health and development should be sought to allow better estimation of the amount of resources expended and the impact of these investments on children. (+info)
The tobacco industry and pesticide regulations: case studies from tobacco industry archives.
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Tobacco is a heavily pesticide-dependent crop. Because pesticides involve human safety and health issues, they are regulated nationally and internationally; however, little is known about how tobacco companies respond to regulatory pressures regarding pesticides. In this study we analyzed internal tobacco industry documents to describe industry activities aimed at influencing pesticide regulations. We used a case study approach based on examination of approximately 2,000 internal company documents and 3,885 pages of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests. The cases involved methoprene, the ethylene bisdithiocarbamates, and phosphine. We show how the tobacco industry successfully altered the outcome in two cases by hiring ex-agency scientists to write reports favorable to industry positions regarding pesticide regulations for national (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) and international (World Health Organization) regulatory bodies. We also show how the industry worked to forestall tobacco pesticide regulation by attempting to self-regulate in Europe, and how Philip Morris encouraged a pesticide manufacturer to apply for higher tolerance levels in Malaysia and Europe while keeping tobacco industry interest a secret from government regulators. This study suggests that the tobacco industry is able to exert considerable influence over the pesticide regulatory process and that increased scrutiny of this process and protection of the public interest in pesticide regulation may be warranted. (+info)
"The law was actually drafted by us but the Government is to be congratulated on its wise actions": British American Tobacco and public policy in Kenya.
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: British American Tobacco (BAT) has historically enjoyed a monopoly position in Kenya. Analysis of recent tobacco control debates and a case study of BAT's response to the emergence of competition in Kenya are used to explore the company's ability to shape public policy and its treatment of tobacco farmers. DESIGN: Analysis of internal industry documents from BAT's Guildford depository, other relevant data and interviews with key informants. RESULTS: BAT enjoys extensive high-level political connections in Kenya, including close relationships with successive Kenyan presidents. Such links seems to have been used to influence public policy. Health legislation has been diluted and delayed, and when a competitor emerged in the market, BAT used its contacts to have the government pass legislation drafted by BAT that compelled farmers to sell tobacco to BAT rather than to its competitor. BAT was already paying farmers less than any other African leaf-growing company, and the legislation entrenched poor pay and a quasi-feudal relationship. BAT's public relation's response to the threat of competition and the ministers' public statements extolling the economic importance of tobacco growing suggest that BAT has manipulated tobacco farming as a political issue. CONCLUSIONS: The extent of BAT's influence over public policy is consistent with the observations that, despite ratifying the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, progress in implementing tobacco control measures in Kenya has been limited. The benefits of tobacco farming seem to be deliberately exaggerated, and an analysis of its true cost benefits is urgently needed. Tobacco farmers must be protected against BAT's predatory practices and fully informed about its activities to help them have an informed role in policy debates. As image, particularly around the importance of tobacco farming, seems key to BAT's ability to influence policy, the truth about its treatment of farmers must be publicised. (+info)
"Efforts to Reprioritise the Agenda" in China: British American Tobacco's Efforts to Influence Public Policy on Secondhand Smoke in China.
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Professionalism: challenges for dentistry in the future.
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While countries varies significantly in the financing of dental care, they are much more alike in the delivery of dentistry. Dental care is principally provided in dental offices and clinics that are independent business entities whose business leaders are most often the dentists themselves. However society expects from dentists a level of professionalism (i.e. habitually acting ethically, both in terms of competence and conduct) in contrast to the methods and motivations of the marketplace. This is why the single most important challenge of dental professional ethics continues to be giving proper priority to patients' well being and building ethically correct decision-making relationships with patients while, at the same time, trying to maintain a successful business operation. If we look into dentistry's future, the centrality of this aspect of professional ethics is not likely to change, although the ways in which dentists might violate this trust will probably multiple as funding mechanisms become increasingly complex. It is important that dentists reflect with fresh eyes on their ethical commitments. One challenge is the increased availability of oral health information to the public and the fact that so many people are uncritical of the accuracy of information in the media and on the web. A second is the increase in the amount of health care advertising in many societies. A third is the growth of aesthetic dentistry that differs from standard oral health care in important and ethically significant ways. The fourth is insurance that frequently complicates the explanation of a patient's treatment alternatives and often brings a third party into the treatment decision relationship. The ethical challenges of each of these factors will be considered and ultimately tying it to the central theme of dental professionalism. (+info)