by Christine Contillo, BSN, BS, RN-C

Last month I joined three other nurses from across the country at the annual Philip Morris International (PMI) shareholders’ meeting in New York City. Wearing lab coats to represent the fact that we’re committed health professionals, we each used our two minutes of the question-and-answer period to confront PMI Chairman and CEO Louis Camilleri about the company’s questionable practices in targeting new (and often underage) smokers in developing nations. With patient advocacy, science, and education on our side, we challenged the heavily advertised and misrepresentative claims of Big Tobacco (PMI currently owns seven of the 15 top-selling cigarette brands worldwide). […]