India not doing enough on tobacco,says Insider Wigand

Wigand rose to prominence in the 90s when he blew the whistle on American tobacco companies,making public knowledge that they not only knew smoking was addictive,but that they also ran extensive campaigns to conceal the information.

His story would inspire The Insider,a 1999 thriller-drama starring Russell Crowe as Wigand,playing the role of a tobacco company researcher who comes under personal attacks for revealing the deceptions of the tobacco industry.

A healthcare professional by heart and vocation,Wigand shocked friends and colleagues when he decided to join Brown & Williamson,America’s third largest cigarette company,as its R&D director. “I thought I would have an opportunity to make a difference and work on a safer cigarette,” he said.

But his optimism quickly turned to disillusionment when he realised that despite knowing tobacco was addictive privately,top bosses at various cigarette companies stated the opposite in public. “It was like being schizophrenic. You were aware and not aware,and it bothered me. How they twisted facts to meet their needs,” he recalls.

On asking uncomfortable questions,he was fired. What followed thereafter were two years of personal struggle that eventually led him to break his confidentiality agreement with B&W,and become one of the famous whistleblowers in American history.

His decision,though,came at great cost. His home was broken into,he received death threats,and was forced to abandon his home and live secretly in various hotels.

“Going through unmarked doors,changing homes,switching cars,having code names — it was straight out of a James Bond movie. But once I made up my mind — I went the whole nine yards. I had to expose their lies,” he adds.

His testimony was instrumental in not only putting curbs on the US tobacco industry but also bringing about laws that would make cigarette companies pay billions of dollars to states to offset medical costs for treating smoking-related illnesses.

Many revere Wigand as a hero for his courage but he is quick to brush off the title. “I feel honoured to be called a hero,but frankly I don’t accept that moniker. I did what any decent human being would do. If I had remained as quiet as my superiors,I would be as guilty as the tobacco companies,” he says.

He is not comfortable with the whistleblower’s tag either. “Something about the way it’s used,connotates that its wrong to be one. When the truth is,having the courage to expose the system is a matter of great moral conscience. I look at Snowden and wonder,what was his motivation to leave everything and run away? A personal cause,maybe that is what.”

So,if given a chance,would he do it again? “Oh yes,without a doubt. I did what was right and have no regrets and would do it again. It showed me what I was made of.”