【卫报专题报道 烟草：致命的业务】特朗普治下烟草公司加强控制华盛顿 [英国媒体]

Tobacco companies tighten hold on Washington under Trump

特朗普治下烟草公司加强控制华盛顿

Top White House figures – including the vice-president and health secretary – have deep ties to an industry whose donations began pouring in on day one

白宫里的大佬们——包括副总统和卫生部长——和烟草行业有着千丝万缕的联系，它的捐款从第一天开始就源源不断流入。



Tom Price, the health secretary, voted against allowing the FDA to regulate tobacco. Mike Pence has received donations from RJ Reynolds. Composite: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

Tom Price，卫生部长，对让FDA监管烟草投了反对票。Mike Pence收过RJ雷诺兹的捐款。

Tobacco companies have moved swiftly to strengthen their grip on Washington politics, ramping up lobbying efforts and securing significant regulatory wins in the first six months of the Trump era.

烟草公司对加强对上层政治掌控方面反应迅速，加强游说努力而且在特朗普上台后的六个月内赢得了一次相当大的制度胜利。

Day one of Donald Trump’s presidency started with tobacco donations, senior figures have been put in place within the Trump administration who have deep ties to tobacco, and lobbying activity has increased significantly.

特朗普总统任期的第一天以烟草业的捐款开始，特朗普领导班子里与烟草业关系甚密的高官已经各司其职，而且游说活动显着增强。

“As in so many areas, the promise to drain the swamp has been an extraordinary hypocrisy,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal, who supported anti-tobacco legislation and was one of the US attorneys general to broker a hundred-billion-dollar settlement with tobacco companies in the 1990s. “Many of his appointees have deep commitments to the tobacco industry,” he said.

“在许多领域，其排忧解难的承诺完全是口头支票，”Richard Blumenthal说，他支持反烟立法而且是美国的首席检察官其中一员，而且在20世纪90年代促成了一项与烟草公司的千亿美金级别的庭外和解。“他任命的许多人和烟草行业有深厚的交往。”他说。

“Tobacco industry influence in Washington is pervasive, in many different ways,” Blumenthal said. “They have an active presence on the Hill, they meet frequently with administrative agencies, on hugely significant issues such as regulation of e-cigarettes, tobacco packaging and warnings.”

“烟草公司的影响在华盛顿无孔不入，以各种各样的形式，”Blumenthal说。“它们在国会山有着活跃的存在，它们频频和行政机构会谈，在诸多重要提议上，比如电子烟、烟草包装和警告。”

America’s largest cigarette manufacturers, Reynolds American and Altria Group, donated $1.5m to help the new president celebrate his inauguration. The donations allowed executives to dine and mingle with top administration officials and their families.

美国最大的烟草制造商，雷诺兹美国和奥驰亚集团，为美国新总统的就职典礼捐助了1500万美元。这让公司高管们获得和政府官员及其家庭在晚宴上谈笑风生的机会。

Not long after Trump promised to transfer power from Washington to the American people, a wave of spending in pursuit of influence was unleashed. In the first quarter of 2017, tobacco companies and trade associations spent $4.7m lobbying federal officials. Altria, the company behind Marlboro, hired 17 lobbying firms. Reynolds, makers of the Camel brand, hired 13, according to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids.

在特朗普承诺将权利从官僚移交给人民后不久，一波为了寻求影响的支出浪潮涌起。2017年第一季度，烟草公司和同业公会花了4700万美元游说联邦官员。奥驰亚，万宝路的东家，雇佣了17家游说公司。雷诺兹，骆驼牌东家，雇佣了13家，根据儿童无烟运动。



Since then, tobacco companies have been putting points on the scoreboard. Politicians and officials with deep ties to the tobacco industry now head the US health department, the top attorney’s office and the Senate, even as tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of death.

从那时起，烟草公司遥遥领先。与烟草业勾结的政客和官员现在领导美国卫生部门、首席检察官办公室和参议院，即使吸烟仍是导致可预防性死亡的首要原因。

Agencies in charge of reviewing large mergers let a window slip by in which they might have requested information about a $49bn merger between Reynolds and British American Tobacco (BAT). That merger, expected to be voted through by shareholders next week, will make BAT the biggest listed tobacco company in the world, and puts proceeds from eight out of 10 cigarettes sold in the US into the pockets of two companies: Altria and BAT.

检查大型并购的部门错失良机，他们本可以要求关于雷诺兹和英美烟草(British American Tobacco,BAT)之间490亿美元合并的信息。这次预计在下周由两家股东投票表决的合并，将让BAT成为世界上最大的烟草公司，而且让奥驰亚和BAT占据整个烟草市场的4/5。

Advocates and opposition politicians fear public health wins in curbing smoking could be vulnerable to a more emboldened industry.

倡议者和反对派政治家担心在控制吸烟赢得一局的公共卫生在更大胆的烟草行业面前变得不堪一击。

There are also concerns that most at risk are poorer and more vulnerable citizens whose health insurance coverage could be weakened by Republican reforms.

也有大部分受威胁是穷人而且更多公民的医疗保险将因为共和党改革削弱的担心。

“With the new Trump administration and Congress trying to roll back health and safety regulations, generally the tobacco industry is seizing the opportunity to mount its own assault on the programs and policies that have reduced smoking in this country,” said Vince Willmore, a spokesperson for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

“特朗普班子尝试削减卫生和安全条例，总之烟草行业抓住机会向已经卓有成效的禁烟项目和政策发起进攻。”Vince Willmore，儿童无烟运动的一名发言人说。

The Food and Drug Administration has twice delayed legal briefs to defend regulations of e-cigarettes, products cigarette makers say are the future. Summer deadlines for cigar and e-cigarette makers to file applications with the FDA, which regulates the products, have all been delayed by the Trump administration.

FDA已经为了捍卫电子烟条例两次推迟案情摘要，烟草制造商说电子烟是未来。雪茄和电子烟制造商向FDA提交申请的最后期限在夏季，特朗普班子已经全部推迟了这些产品的条例。

And the high-profile attorney Noel Francisco, who once argued for Reynolds that including a quit-line phone number on cigarette packs amounted to government advocacy against smoking, has been nominated for the post of solicitor general, the government’s top attorney.

还有备受瞩目的Noel Francisco律师，他曾经为雷诺兹主张在烟草包装上写上戒烟热线相当于政府的戒烟宣传。现在被任命为副检察长。

In the past two decades, the tobacco industry has increasingly steered donations to Republicans. The past two election cycles, 2014 and 2016, were the most partisan ever. Tobacco companies made 84% of their donations each cycle to Republican candidates, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Since 1990, $57m has been donated exclusively to Republicans, 74% of the industry’s total donations.

过去两个12年中，烟草行业逐渐增加向共和党的捐款。2014和2016两次选举周期中，立场壁垒最为分明。烟草公司每次将84%的捐款给予共和党候选人，根据快速响应政治中心。从1990年起，专门给予共和党5700万美元的捐款，占烟草业总捐款的74%。

Proposals from Republican lawmakers for health reform, which the president has attempted to broker, have threatened to cut $126m that the Centers for Disease Control uses to educate Americans about the harms of tobacco use. Cuts Republicans proposed to Medicaid, a public health program for the poor, could imperil smoking cessation coverage for people already far more likely to smoke than middle- and upper-class Americans.

特朗普尝试促成的来自共和党法律制定者的医改提案，打算削减疾控中心用于教育美国人吸烟危害的1亿2600万美元预算。他们也提议削减穷人受益的医疗补助项目，这会威胁穷人中的戒烟覆盖，他们目前吸烟率远超美国的中上层阶级。

Trump himself, notoriously secretive about his personal wealth, has revealed that he had investments in tobacco companies, including Philip Morris International, its American spinoff Altria Group, and Reynolds American Inc.

特朗普他自己，臭名昭着地对自己的个人财产讳莫如深，已经被揭露曾经投资烟草公司，包括飞利浦莫里斯国际，奥驰亚集团的美国衍生公司和雷诺兹美国股份有限公司。



In the past three years, Trump’s financial disclosures show he earned up to $2.1m from tobacco holdings in diversified portfolios. Trump said he sold his stocks this spring (although he did not provide proof).

过去三年，特朗普的财政披露中可看到他从多元化投资组合中烟草部分总计获利2100万美元。特朗普说他在春季出售了他的股票（尽管没有提供证据）。

For Trump’s inaugural celebration, Reynolds American gave $1m. Altria Group gave $500,000. The US Chamber of Commerce, which has been fiercely pro-tobacco in recent years, gave $25,000.

雷诺兹美国为特朗普的就职典礼提供了100万美元。奥驰亚集团提供了50万美元。美国商会，近年强力支持烟草行业，提供了2万5000美元。

Vice-President Mike Pence was already well acquainted with the tobacco lobby. In 2001, Pence argued that “smoking doesn’t kill”. Two months later, Pence met with tobacco lobbyists who steered donations his way.

副总统Mike Pence已经对烟草游说很熟悉了。2001年，Pence主张“烟草不会杀人”，然后2个月后，和负责捐款的烟草游说者见面。



Tobacco lobbyists discussed donating to Mike Pence in a 2001 email. Photograph: University of California San Francisco Truth Tobacco Industry Documents

2001年一封烟草游说者讨论向Mike Pence捐款的电子邮件。

Over his career, Pence received $39,000 in donations from RJ Reynolds, a Reynolds American subsidiary, and more than $60,000 from the tobacco company-aligned National Association of Convenience Stores, both among his top donors. Pence owned up to $250,000 in stock in a family business, a chain of 210 convenience stores doing business as Tobacco Road. The company later went bankrupt.

对于他的事业，Pence从RJ雷诺兹收到3万9000美元，一家雷诺兹的美国子公司，而且从另一家烟草公司全国便利店联盟收到6万美元。两家都是他的头号资助者。Pence在一家家族企业拥有总计25万美元的股份，这家企业曾在北卡罗来纳州中心的烟草产区有210家便利店，随后破产了。

The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, who has had a high-profile role in developing health reform proposals, has long cast votes that favor tobacco interests. McConnell once threatened to derail negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal in support of tobacco. McConnell is from Kentucky, one of the top tobacco-growing states in the country. In January, his former chief of staff was hired by Altria.

Mitch McConnell，参议院多数党领袖，在医改提案中扮演至关重要的角色，长久以来投票支持烟草利益。McConnell曾经威胁干扰太平洋伙伴合作关系贸易谈判以支持烟草。McConnell来自肯塔基州，领先的烟草种植州之一。一月，他的前参谋长被奥驰亚雇佣了。

Trump’s health appointments also have deep links to tobacco companies. The health secretary, Tom Price, in 2009 voted against a 62-cent cigarette tax hike that would have helped pay for public health insurance for poor children. He called the law a blow to “hard-working Americans” meant “to feed [Obama’s] reckless agenda”. Until 2012, Price owned at least $37,000 in shares in Philip Morris International and Altria, Mother Jones reported, and during his career as a state legislator and Georgia congressman he received more than $37,000 in donations from tobacco companies and related political action committees. In March, Price’s former deputy chief of staff was hired as a lobbyist for Reynolds.

特朗普的卫生部门职位也和烟草公司关联甚密。卫生部长，Tom Price，在2009年投票反对大幅提高62美分的烟草税以支付穷人小孩的公共健康保险。他称这项法律为对“努力工作的美国人”的一耳光，意味着“喂养(奥巴马的)不计后果的议程”。直到2012年，Price至少拥有3万7000美元飞利浦莫里斯国际和奥驰亚的股份，《琼斯母亲》报道，而且在他州议员和乔治亚州国会议员的任期中他从烟草公司和相关政治活动委员会收到超过3万7000美元的捐款。三月，Price的前参谋长以游说者被雷诺兹雇佣。



For Trump’s inaugural celebration, Reynolds American Incorporated gave $1m. Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP

雷诺兹美国为特朗普的就职典礼赞助了100万美元。

In addition to his vote against the cigarette tax, Price also voted against allowing the FDA to regulate tobacco, a vote that would have a large impact on e-cigarettes. Price now leads the department in charge of enforcing those regulations.

除了投票反对烟草税外，Priece也投票反对允许FDA监管烟草，这是一次将对电子烟产生巨大影响的投票。Price现在领导执行这些条例的部门。

Reporting to Price, as the head of the FDA, is Scott Gottlieb. Before he headed the FDA, Gottlieb worked primarily for the investment bank Winston & Company, which helped raise $4.7m for the e-cigarette company Kure in 2016, according to Bloomberg News.

Scott Gottlieb是FDA的领导，向Price负责。在领导FDA之前，Gottlieb主要为温斯顿投资银行和公司工作，2016年为电子烟公司Kure筹资4700万美元，根据彭博新闻社。

Gottlieb then became a director at Kure the same year. Writing about the FDA, he argued in Forbes that anti-tobacco “activists have managed to infiltrate the middle ranks of the agency’s center”, and suggested e-cigarettes could be an alternative for smokers.

Gottlieb同年成为Kure的一名主管。在福布斯中关于FDA他写道：“反烟草活动分子渗入这个机构的中心部门的中层”，而且建议吸烟者可以用电子烟作为可选项。

Attorneys appointed to defend the FDA’s authority to regulate tobacco products have, in some cases, come directly from the law firm that once fought them – Jones Day. The firm’s attorneys represented Trump during the campaign as well as RJ Reynolds in suits against the US government. Now, 11 lawyers from the firm have been appointed to various government agencies, American Lawyer reported.

为FDA监管烟草产品辩护的律师，有时候，直接来自众达律师事务所，这家公司曾经站在FDA的反面。公司的律师曾代表特朗普和RJ雷诺兹在这次运动中应对美国政府。现在，该公司11名律师委派到不同的政府部门，《美国律师》报道。

Until Francisco’s nomination for solicitor general, he represented both RJ Reynolds and its parent company, Reynolds American Inc. The companies were two of just 16 sources of income, including his law firm Jones Day, from whom Francisco reported earning more than $5,000 a year.

直到Francisco的副检察长任命之前，他代表RJ雷诺兹及其父公司，雷诺兹美国股份有限公司。这两家是他仅有的16条收入来源的其中两条，还有众达律师事务所，据称Francisco每年从中获利超过5000美元。

Francisco has had “a profoundly important involvement with the tobacco industry”, said Blumenthal.

Francisco拥有“和烟草行业根深蒂固的牵连”，Blumenthal说。

Francisco argued on behalf of Reynolds in a continuing case. In one instance, he successfully argued against a graphic warning design on cigarette packs, which are common in other developed nations, because the warnings included a phone number where people could seek help to quit.

Francisco持续站在雷诺兹的立场。在一个例子中，他成功驳斥了在烟草包装上绘制图形的警告，这在其他发达国家相当普遍，因为这些警告包含一个可以寻求帮助的电话号码。

Francisco argued the message veered into advocacy because it told people to “live a certain way”, according to the Seattle Times.

Francisco主张这些信息构成宣传，因为这告诉人们“以一种特定的方式生活”，根据西雅图时报。

“The government is trying to send a powerful message: quit smoking now,” Francisco reportedly said.

“政府正在试图传递一种强大的信息：马上戒烟。”据报道，Francisco说。

Even the dark “American carnage” speech Trump gave at his inauguration was written by a one-time tobacco advocate: his speechwriter Stephen Miller argued against a cigarette sales ban while he attended Duke University in 2007.

甚至特朗普在就职典礼上发表的忧郁的“美国大屠杀”演讲就是一名纸烟支持者写的：他的演讲稿作者Stephen Miller，2017年在杜克大学主张反对一项烟草销售禁令。

“Smoking, while risky and potentially lethal, is not nearly as dangerous as special interest groups and their cohorts in government have made it out to be,” Miller wrote. “The real risks are the fascistic tendencies that prohibit smoking in even private establishments.”

“吸烟，虽然有潜在的致死性，但其实不像某些利益集团及其在政府中的支持者所说那样危险。”Miller写道。“真正的风险是甚至在私人场所禁止吸烟的法西斯主义趋势。”