The Shameful and Shameless Links Between Big Tobacco and Global Warming Deniers

The global warming deniers aren’t just a creation of fossil fuel companies, like ExxonMobil. British author and environmental activist George Monbiot exposes their links to the tobacco industry in an extract from his new book, Heat.

Monbiot lays out the case that “corporate funding of lobby groups denying that manmade climate change is taking place was … started by the tobacco company Philip Morris.” For instance, in 1993, Philip Morris created a phony citizens group to discredit EPA research showing the dangers of second-hand smoke, the Orwellian-named, “the Advancement of Sound Science Coalition.” That coalition launched the career of well-known denier, Steve Milloy, publisher of Junkscience.com, dedicated to misleading the public on a host of critical science issues, especially global warming.

Tobacco smoke harms both those who generate it and those nearby. Greenhouse gas emissions are far less discriminating, and will leave no part of the planet unscathed if they continue to grow unchecked. Anyone who continues to deny the dangerous reality of global warming, who continues to blow smoke in the face of the American public, should be ashamed.