This study analysed tobacco industry lobbying strategies in Finland from 1975 to 2001. Tobacco industry documents were used as a primary source of data. The study was focused on tobacco control measures in Finland, including product liability litigation against the tobacco companies between 1988 and 2001. The tobacco control implications of tobacco litigation were analysed e.g. by examining the different roles of international tobacco companies and the level of control they employed in the Finnish litigation.
The Finnish case was further highlighted through analysis of the possible linkages between tobacco industry’s scientific strategies and its legal defence. With regard to tobacco control measures, the aim was to examine how global tobacco companies have tried to influence tobacco regulation in Finland. The main question was: did the tobacco companies succeed in finding a successful strategy for undermining the development of tobacco control in Finland? Finally, this study explored the validity of the tobacco industry documents by examining whether the material from the private archive of a tobacco lobbyist might augment or revise the earlier reports on tobacco industry manipulation in Finland.
This study clearly demonstrated that international tobacco companies considered the legal proceedings in Finland as a global threat. However, tobacco industry tried to play down the importance of the product liability process by portraying it as a local dispute with no international connections. The preparatory work was conducted in committees or groups, which assembled the companies’ internal and external resources and were of crucial significance for the implementation of the defence. The Finnish defence was to be constructed on the same principles as in the USA. Besides using the same argumentation, meaning same terms and descriptions, for example, for general and specific causality, the witnesses were also partly the same. The proceedings revealed that the industry had concealed the health hazards of its products and, despite indisputable evidence, continued to deny them. The positions taken by the industry rocked its reliability as a social actor and thus weakened its chances of influencing tobacco policy.
The findings demonstrate that research funding was closely connected to witness development in the product liability case. By granting research funding, the industry had created a pool of experts who were willing either to testify or to recommend other potential medical expert witnesses for the industry. As many as 33 of 45 tobacco industry’s medical expert witnesses received research funding from the industry before or after the testimony. 19 of them worked in different positions as consultants for the industry. The older witnesses testified to the existence of a controversy, which they, in fact, had helped to create. Those appearing in Helsinki District court apparently downplayed the importance of their involvement with the industry. The tobacco industry funded the majority of expert witnesses appearing for it, beyond simple recompense for the time involved. This may have unconsciously influenced the testimony the witnesses gave.
The tobacco industry documents suggest that Finland was of particular interest to tobacco companies because of the country's long experience with tobacco legislation. Documents concerning Finland show that here, too, the tobacco companies have systematically sought to steer discussion away from the harmful effects of smoking and to prevent tobacco legislation. The tobacco industry activities slowed down the development and implementation of the Tobacco Act in Finland. The tobacco industry was also successful e.g. in delaying the introduction of restaurant smoking ban and class action legislation.
The tobacco documents offer first hand information on the tobacco industry strategies and their implementation. However, the documents do not always provide exact information on the outcomes of the strategies. Therefore, the documents have a shortcoming in exposing the course of events. Comparing the documents from a private tobacco industry lobbyist with publicly available tobacco industry documents relating to Finland showed that the tobacco industry documents give a comprehensive view of the general tobacco industry strategies even in such a small market area as Finland.
