B.C. woman fuming that seniors' advocacy group CARP in bed with Big Tobacco company

Ellen Gould joined the Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP) — Canada's largest advocacy group for older adults — because she considered it a "trustworthy organization" that advocates for seniors' health.

So when an email arrived from CARP, inviting the Powell River, B.C., resident to take part in a focus group on smoking habits in Canada, Gould was intrigued.

The email said CARP members would discuss "smokeless alternatives" to cigarettes, including vaping products — commonly known as e-cigarettes or vaping pens — which are battery-operated and heat up a liquid solution into an aerosol for inhalation.

But when Gould scrolled to the bottom of an accompanying survey, she discovered the project was funded by Rothmans, Benson & Hedges (RBH), a Toronto-based tobacco company owned by giant Philip Morris International, one of the largest tobacco companies in the industry.

"It is such a shock to me that CARP would be acting as a shill for Big Tobacco," said Gould. "I just found that so offensive."

RBH claims on its website that it wants to stop selling cigarettes by 2035 and has shifted its focus to vaping products. They don't emit smoke, but they do contain nicotine and according to Health Canada, the aerosol can contain potentially harmful chemicals such as formaldehyde, chromium and aluminum. 

"CARP should be advocating for smoking and vaping cessation programs, rather than giving Rothmans a new lease on life by promoting vaping to seniors," said Gould, a public policy researcher who, in 2019, decided to investigate the health effects of vaping devices to help write a smoking and vaping bylaw for her condo building.

A prominent tobacco researcher and health policy expert says CARP's partnership with RBH lends legitimacy to a company that realizes tobacco cigarettes are waning in popularity and wants more people to vape.

"They're continuing to try to addict people to their … products," said Robert Schwartz,  executive director and principal investigator at the University of Toronto's Ontario Tobacco Research Unit. 

"How would [CARP] even think about co-operating with a tobacco company." 

CARP declined an interview request from Go Public. 

In an email, CARP president Rudy Buttignol wrote that RBH approached CARP about a partnership and the advocacy organization agreed, because smoking "had fallen from view as a societal issue" and it "found the idea interesting."

Buttignol declined to say how much money the tobacco company provided for access to CARP members.

A spokesperson for Rothmans, Benson & Hedges said in an email that "research of this kind is … legal and appropriate" and that no specific RBH products were referenced as part of the discussion with members of CARP.