Letter to the Editor

Tobacco companies are booming despite an economic depression

Peisen He^1,2 and Eiji Yano¹

¹  Department of Hygiene and Public Health, Teikyo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

²  Department of Social Medicine, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, PR China

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Tobacco Induced Diseases 2009, 5:9doi:10.1186/1617-9625-5-9

Published:	15 June 2009

Abstract

During the past year, an economic crisis has affected economies and life styles throughout the world. However, the three largest transnational tobacco companies – Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco, and Japan Tobacco – showed excellent returns during this period, reflecting more widespread indirect exposure to smoking.