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Subject:
Prevent Tobacco Sponsorship of Formula 1 in Turkey! Mr. Max Mosley Dear Mr. Mosley, The Formula One Administration recently decided to hold races in Istanbul, Turkey in 2005, one year before Formula One has agreed to end all tobacco sponsorship. In a letter you sent Essential Action on 13 September, 2002, you said,"We always obey the law in each country we visit." Your further stated, "We would not attempt to hold a Formula One race in a country where [tobacco sponsorship] is not allowed." Turkey has, however, a long standing tobacco advertising ban, under which tobacco sponsorship of Formula One would be illegal. One might logically conclude from your letter, therefore, that Formula One plans to sabotage Turkey's tobacco advertising ban (e.g. via the Turkish Automobile Federation or a member of Parliament), by seeking to exempt Formula One races from it. Concern that Formula One may choose the latter option is not unfounded. Earlier this year, a member of the Turkish Parliament proposed a bill to exempt Formula One races from the country's tobacco advertising ban. The Turkish public health community successfully campaigned against this attempt to render the tobacco advertising ban ineffective, and the bill was withdrawn in May 2002. In 1998, on the eve of the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, you announced that Formula One would end its use of tobacco sponsorship by 2002, if it could be shown that tobacco advertising encourages people to smoke. While significant evidence was shared with Formula One, including internal tobacco industry documents that attest to the importance of Formula One in recruiting new smokers, Formula One failed to keep to its public promise. Instead, Formula One has aggressively challenged countries with tobacco sponsorship bans and thrown tantrums when countries have not gone along with Formula One's pro-tobacco industry agenda. This fall, when Belgium refused to exempt Formula One from its tobacco sponsorship ban (due to come into effect in August 2003), Formula One dropped the Belgian Grand Prix. The BBC reported on November 4, 2002, that you are strongly encouraging Belgium to adjust its laws to allow for a resumption of the Grand Prix in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Similarly, Formula One successfully lobbied for an exemption from the UK's new tobacco advertising ban. Five Formula One teams -- Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, Jordan and British American Racing -- currently have tobacco industry sponsorship. There is no good reason that these teams can not find alternative sources of funding by 2005, one year in advance of Formula One's current pledge to phase out all tobacco sponsorship. Cigarettes are as addictive as heroin. Moreover, they kill 50% of people who smoke them. The World Health Organization projects that over 10 million people will be killed by tobacco by 2025. Sound like a lot of people? It is -- the equivalent of nearly 95 jet planes* crashing daily, every single day of the year, year after year. The tobacco terror is real. The global carnage wouldn't exist if it weren't for the tobacco industry's addiction to the profits from cigarettes. Likewise, it appears that Formula One is heavily addicted to the $350 million-a-year in tobacco industry sponsorships that it receives -- sponsorships whose primary purpose is to fuel cigarette sales, thereby perpetuating the global massacre. It's time to get out of the business of being a hired gun of the tobacco terrorists. I join colleagues around the world in demanding a straight answer from you: Will Formula One races in Istanbul, Turkey in 2005 be free of tobacco industry sponsorship? It is a simple question, that should have a simple answer, unless, that is, the tobacco industry is still able to pay for your services. * Boeing 747-300 = 289 passengers [NAME] |