A new podcast that delves into the tobacco industry’s “relentless pursuit of profit at the expense of public health” has been launched by a special team at the University of Bath.
The Tobacco Control Research Group (TCRG), a world leader in uncovering what it calls Big Tobacco’s darkest tactics, has released the first episodes of Deadly Industry: Challenging Big Tobacco.
The eight-episode weekly podcast, hosted by TCRG investigative researcher Louis Laurence, looks at the tobacco industry’s “tactics in pursuit of profit over health”, with the first three episodes now available.
Episode one goes behind the scenes with TCRG director Prof Anna Gilmore as she exposes the tactics Big Tobacco uses to sabotage health policies around the globe – and the ripple effect as other industries, such as gambling and fossil fuels, mimic its playbook.
As the series unfolds, Deadly Industry dives even deeper with content from world-renowned tobacco control experts, including tax specialist Dr Rob Branston, who unpacks the staggering profits of Big Tobacco, while Jorge Alday, director of the STOP industry watchdog project – of which TCRG is a member – reveals how it traps new users in its web.
Describing the series as an “eye-opening journey” and essential listening for public health advocates, policymakers, journalists and anyone curious about how industries operate behind closed doors, the university said future episodes would “uncover Big Tobacco’s murky involvement in smuggling, its manipulation of science and its far-reaching political corruption – stretching from the UK to Southern Africa”.
It willl also reveal how the sinister strategies pioneered by Big Tobacco are now being wielded by other harmful industries, from ultra-processed foods to fossil fuels.
Podcast host Louis Laurence said: “Tobacco kills half of its long-term users, claiming more lives annually than HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined.
“The tobacco industry has spent decades perfecting its deadly playbook, and now those same tactics are spreading across other sectors, threatening both human health and the planet.
“In Deadly Industry we’ll be exposing that playbook and how Big Tobacco has used its vast resources to resist public health measures, undermine tax laws, intimidate investigators, muddy the scientific debate and much more, to keep the profits rolling in.”
Podcast guest Jorge Alday added: “Tobacco companies have an enormous hidden influence on our collective health and financial well-being.
“Deadly Industry gives us a way to share how that influence results in an environment that makes people think tobacco products are safer than they actually are.”
Backed by the TCRG’s award-winning research, Deadly Industry delivers sharp insights and powerful storytelling to expose the global impact of corporate power.
Deadly Industry: Challenging Big Tobacco is available from the usual podcast streaming platforms, including platforms Spotfiy, Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music.
TCGR is part of STOP, which has a mission is to expose the tobacco industry tactics that undermine public health. Comprised of a network of academic and public health organisations, STOP researches and monitors the tobacco industry, shares intelligence to counter its tactics and exposes its misdeeds to a global audience.
STOP is funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies as part of the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use.