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International tobacco control should repudiate Jekyll and Hyde health philanthropy

2008; BMJ; Volume: 17; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1136/tc.2007.024562

1468-3318

Simon Chapman,

Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology

The founder of the Salvation Army, William Booth, famously said “...take the Devil’s money, wash it in the Blood of the Lamb, and use it to save a dying world”. Booth thus opened the door for people of goodwill to take money for noble works from assorted devils. Today it is commonplace, for example, for religious charities to accept money from gambling taxes. The gratitude of the poor, the sick and the needy for support can quietly usher aside impertinent considerations about where the money came from. When the sums offered are modest, the high moral ground of principled refusal is more easily climbed. But the devil can have all the best tunes when it comes to Faustian temptations. So what should global tobacco control workers make of the world’s richest man,1 Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helu, pouring rivers of money into health, education and poverty charities in …