Friends of the Earth: Campaigns: Corporates: News: BAT in its own words

BAT in its own words

At the end of April, British American Tobacco (BAT) held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) in London, but they were not alone!

Outside the AGM, campaigners were informing shareholders about a new report called BAT in its own words.

Can you trust BAT?

The report, using BAT's own internal documents, exposes how it uses Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to:

Distort research on second hand smoke.
Fund 'industry friendly' lobby groups to promote 'voluntary initiatives'.
Make a profit at the expense of people, their health and the environment.

Companies like BAT will not act in the best interests of society or the environment unless legislation forces them to do so.

Simon McRae, Corporates Campaigner
Friends of the Earth

BAT's AGM was the first of three we will be attending this year to highlight problems with corporate power.

The other AGMs we will be attending are:

Tesco
Calling for a stop to the Tesco takeover. Regulation is needed to ensure their power in the market place is not abused.
Shell
We will be hosting affected communities who will be highlighting the need for oil companies to clean up their act.

Friends of the Earth says

The UK Government should give directors of companies a duty of care on the impacts of their operations.

Watch this space for more information on the Tesco and Shell AGMs in June.

Resource

BAT in its own words
(PDF†) April 2005
This report uses BAT's own internal documents to expose how it uses Corporate Social Responsibility to make a profit at the expense of people, their health and the environment.

†To view PDF files you will need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader. Visually impaired users can get extra help with these documents from access.adobe.com.

Companies Act 2006

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Content: May 2005