John Luik

John Luik is a senior fellow of the Democracy Institute. Luik is a tobacco industry consultant who advised American and Canadian tobacco companies on passive smoking. Luik has written numerous articles on the over-exaggeration of the health effects of second-hand smoke, has spoken at tobacco company conferences and workshops, has been employed as a anti-smoke-free spokesperson, and is a featured columnist on the smokers' rights website FORCES. Luik co-authored a book with Gio Gori, published by British Columbia's Fraser Institute, called "Passive Smoke: The EPA's Betrayal of Science and Policy" in which they blame the EPA for producing "junk science". Luik lobbied on behalf of restaurants in 1999 during Toronto's smoke-free bylaw campaign in 1999, criticising a report by Toronto's Medical Officer of Health that linked lung cancer and passive smoking.

Academic credentials

According to The Montreal Gazette:

(Luik) taught philosophy at the Canadian Nazarene College in Winnipeg from 1977 to 1985, when he was dismissed from the college for Discrepancies on his resume. He claimed to have a doctorate from Oxford University. He eventually received his doctorate from Oxford but not until 1986.

He applied in 1985 to Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont., and was accepted as an assistant professor in the philosophy department, where he taught applied and professional ethics. Brock knew about his misrepresentation at the Nazarene College but chose to give him another chance, believing that one mistake should not destroy a man's career. But, in 1990, Brock discovered that Luik's one mistake had turned into a flood as he continued to misrepresent his academic qualifications.

"It is not any single misrepresentation ... so much as the apparently uniform pattern of misrepresentations engaged in since 1977 that suggests that Professor Luik is not capable of fulfilling his duties and responsibilities as an assistant professor at Brock University," a 17-page faculty report says.

The report further states that Professor Luik showed "no particular signs of contrition or even embarrassment on being confronted with his misrepresentation. ... This suggested that what was involved was indeed faulty moral judgment."

Luik claimed on his resumes to have held a full-time position at the University of Manitoba and to have taught three graduate courses at the University of Winnipeg. However it transpired that he never held a full-time job at the University of Manitoba and the graduate course he claimed to have taught at Winnipeg didn't even exist, according to university spokesman Catherine Unruh. She said the university has never offered graduate courses in philosophy.

A CBC Television report in June 2001 claimed that Luik has made false statements about his academic credentials. The report stated that during Luik's professorship at Brock University, the Dean of Humanities, Cecil Abrahams, discovered that Luik had made false statements about visiting professorships at other academic institutions and had added books or articles to his list of publications that did not exist. Abrahams (who is now Vice-Cancellor at West Cape University in South Africa) made the following statement about Luik during an interview for the CBC investigative report:

I certainly would not trust anything John Luik says because he must be the worst case of fraud that I have come across and I've been an administrator at universities for a long period of time, both in North America and in Africa, and I think he's by far the worst case of fraudulent behaviour.

Tobacco industry connections

In 1987 Philip Morris created "Project Whitecoat," to counter claims that passive smoking (described by the tobacco industry as Environmental Tobacco Smoke or ETS) was harmful to health. The project strategy was to "go beyond the establishment of a controversy concerning an alleged ETS health risk but to disperse the suspicion of risk".. John Luik was an 'active player' in Project Whitecoat. In 1993 documents from the Confederation of European Communities Cigarette Manufacturers (CECCM) show the strategy adopted by Luik and the tobacco industry in trying to publish papers designed to rebut the passive smoking claims in other scientific journals.

Luik has also made his work-in-progress available to tobacco companies and organisations prior to publication. For example, in 1993 Luik was in correspondence with The Confederation of European Community Cigarettes Manufacturers Limited regarding the publication of his paper, "Pandora's Box - The Dangers of Politically Corrupted Science for Democratic Public Policy", informing the Confederation that his article had been submitted for publication to Philosophy and Public Affairs Journal. In an internal Confederation memo dated 9 September 1993, the author of the memo instructs the tobacco company representatives that "until it [Luik's paper] is formally received, members should NOT [emphasis theirs] make use of the article for external lobbying purposes". In a subsequent memo to the Confederation, dated 9 November 1993, the author informs the Confederation members of Luik's concerns over proposed changes to his paper by the Philosophy and Public Affairs Journal, and relates Luik's request for input on how to proceed.

In 1999, with the support of Brown and Williamson, Luik and Gio Gori co-authored a book titled Passive Smoke: The EPA's Betrayal of Science and Policy. The book was published by the Canadian Fraser Institute and challenged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencies classification of second-hand smoke as a Class A carcinogen - a cancer causing substance. Gori was one of 13 scientists paid by the tobacco companies to write letters-to-the-editor downplaying the risks of second-hand smoke. After Luik and Gori's book attacking the U.S. EPA's report was published, tobacco holdings in the Fraser Institute increased from 1.3 percent ($31,740 to $76,180) of the institute's total annual budget from 1996 to 1998, to 5 percent ($229,300) in 1999.

In 1999 the World Health Organization brought together experts from around the world to examine the effects of second-hand smoke on children's health. The experts agreed exposure to second-hand smoke caused a wide variety of adverse health effects in children, including lower respiratory-tract infections, such as pneumonia and bronchitis. Other ill effects included reduced birth weight and decreased lung function. Ultimately, experts concluded, second-hand smoke caused death and suffering.

John Luik became a tobacco industry lobbyist who lent his "sometimes invented" credentials to the task of discrediting sound science. A doctor of philosophy, Mr Luik refashioned himself as an expert on tobacco, publishing in an alumni magazine an article that had been edited and vetted and funded by the tobacco industry.

Obesity views

Obesity

According to the Western Mail, John Luik and Patrick Basham of the Democracy Institute argue that:

There is no evidence to support claims that children are getting fatter or that they will suffer long-term health problems as a result of their weight; Such a public fixation with weight and food could exacerbate the problem of eating disorders and people's obsession with their own weight.

Dr Luik told the Western Mail,

In the US about 25% of adolescent girls are dieting constantly and 5% have anorexia or bulimia. But this fixation [with food and body image] is not just for girls, but women under 45. The message people are getting is one about an obsession with their bodies - 20 years ago feminists would never have allowed such a public discourse about women's weight. And yet it seems that the health establishment think because it is done under the cover of talking about people's health, it is all right.

Dr Luik added:

The people who live the longest in both the UK and the US are the pleasantly plump - the people who are most likely to die from a weight-related disorder are those who are either too thin or at a normal body mass index. People who are between a BMI of 26 and 32 are those who are living the longest, yet according to the obesity debate, those are the people who should be dying in the greatest numbers.

External resources

• John Luik Interview, Interview Transcript, C.B.C. Television, 21-June-2001
• William Marsden, Niagara-on-the-Lake man is big tobacco's point man: Since 1987, John Luik has been paid by the industry to travel the globe de-bunking cancer-smoking links, The Standard (St. Catharines, Ontario), June 22, 2001 Friday Final Edition
• John Luik Interview, Interview Transcript, Peter Couchman, Australia, 10 July 1996.
• John Luik Interview, Interview Transcript, In Toronto, Chum FM, 16 December 1993.

Publications

Books

• Patrick Basham & John Luik, The Plain Truth: Does Packaging Influence Smoking?, Democracy Institute, 14 March 2012.
• John Luik, Unintended Consequences of Health Fascism, Institute of Economic Affairs, 1 June 2011.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, Gambling A Healthy Bet, Democracy Institute, 31 January 2011.
• John Luik, Patrick Basham & Gio Gori, Diet Nation: Exposing the Obesity Crusade, Social Affairs Unit, 1 December 2006.
• John Luik, A Picture of Health? Why Graphic Warnings Don't Work, Democracy Institute, 2006.
• John C. Luik, Plain Packaging and the Marketing of Cigarettes, Admap Publications, 1998.
• M.J. Waterson and John C. Luik, Advertising and Markets: A Collection of Seminal Papers, NTC Publications, 12 December 1996.
• John Luik, Smokescreen: 'passive smoking' and public policy, Institute of Public Affairs, 1996. Scanned copy available here.
• John Luik, Do Tobacco Advertising Bans Really Work?, Niagara Institute, 1994. Scanned copy available here.
• David Goicoechea, John Luik & Tim Madigan, The Question of Humanism: Challenges and Possibilities, Prometheus Books, 19 April 1991.
• John C. Luik, Freedom of Expression. The case against tobacco advertising bans, Grey Matters Press, 1991. Scanned copy available here.

Popular press, magazines articles and web publications

1991

• John Luik, 'Banning tobacco ads: right or wrong?', The Globe and Mail, 19 August 1991.

1993

• John Luik, 'Pleasure and Democratic Principles', paper delivered at ARISE conference, 1993.

1996

• John Luik is interviewed by Jill Singer on Australia's 'Today Tonight' regarding workplace smoking bans. 8 July 1996. View transcript.
• John Luik, 'I Can't Help Myself' Addiction as Ideology, Human Psychopharmacology, Vol. 11, S21-S32, 1996.

1999

• John Luik, 'The 'Smee Report' as a Contribution to the Tobacco Advertising Debate', Niagara Institute, 1999. Scanned copy can be viewed here.
• John Luik & Gio Gori, 'Passive smoke: the EPA’s betrayal of science and policy', Vancouver, Canada: Fraser Institute, 1999.

2000

• John Luik, A Response to 'Towards Healthier Communities in Nova Scotia: A Discussion Paper', Forces International, 2000.
• John Luik, 'Pandora's Box: The Dangers of Politically Corrupted Science for Democratic Public Policy', Niagara Institute, 2000.

2001

• John Luik, 'Smokescreen: 'Passive Smoking' and Public Policy', Forces International, 2001.

2003

• John Luik, 'Ten wasted years', National Post (Canada), 31 January 2003.
• John Luik, 'The Origins of the Junk Science Epidemic', Forces International, December 2003.
• John Luik, 'Junk Science Redux', Forces International, December 2003.
• John Luik, 'Fat Chance: Some Cautions about the War on Fat', Forces International, December 2003.

2004

• John Luik, 'The dark side of tobacco taxes', Financial Post, January 2004.
• John Luik, 'Sheela Basrur, Junk Science and Phantom Risks', Forces International, January 2004.
• John Luik, 'The real light and mild scandal', Tobacco Post, January 2004.
• John Luik, 'Canadian content at WHO', Forces International, August 2004.
• John Luik, 'The perils of denormalization', Tobacco Reporter, September 2004.

2005

• John Luik, 'Binge drinking, advertising bans and higher duties - the wrong prescription', Forces International, 2005.
• John Luik, 'Eat Crow', Forces International, 2005.
• John Luik, 'It's the movies, stupid', Financial Post, 2005.
• John Luik, 'Whoppers and the End of an Epidemic', Tech Central Station, 22 April 2005.
• John Luik, 'They Don't Embarrass Easily', Tech Central Station, 26 April 2005.
• John Luik, 'Only the Plump Die Young?', Tech Central Station, 29 April 2005.
• John Luik, 'Fat, Flabby and Forgetful?', Tech Central Station, 16 May 2005.
• John Luik, 'Putting the General in Surgeon General', Tech Central Station, 29 August 2005.
• John Luik, 'Kids, Fries and Cancer: Is There a Connection?', Tech Central Station, 30 August 2005.

2006

• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Four big, fat myths', Sunday Telegraph, 28 November 2006.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Separating Trans Fat from Fiction', News World Communications, 24 December 2006.

2007

• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Is dieting good for you?', Spiked, 22 March 2007.
• John Luik, 'Films', Forces International, 20 July 2007.
• John Luik, 'Regulation Redux: still a bad prescription for smoker’s health', Forces International, 25 July 2007.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Flabby claims about food and cancer', Spiked, 7 November 2007.

2008

• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Censorship built on junk arguments', Spiked, 19 March 2008.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Take away the junk or we take away your kids', Spiked, 27 March 2008.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'A plastic ban for dummies', Spiked, 17 April 2008.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'A lesson for Britain’s obesity hysterics', Spiked, 14 May 2008.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Body Mass Index: a big fat lie', Spiked, 28 May 2008.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'The perils of being big in Japan', Spiked, 18 June 2008.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'The fag end of advocacy research', Spiked, 3 July 2008.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Cigarettes and celluloid: a dubious link', Spiked, 21 July 2008.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'The state-sanctioned bullying of fat kids', Spiked, 30 July 2008.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'It’s official: you can be fat and fit', Spiked, 3 September 2008.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Putting the government’s ignorance on display', Spiked, 11 December 2008.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'A year of myths about smoking and obesity', Spiked, 23 December 2008.

2009

• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Change4Life: change we can’t believe in', Spiked, 7 January 2009.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Why the government can’t ‘cure’ obesity', Spiked, 4 February 2009.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Four fat myths about obesity and cancer', Spiked, 26 February 2009.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Women keep drinking', Spiked, 3 March 2009.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'A display of ignorance over youth smoking', Spiked, 29 April 2009.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Kicking the soda can: Hard truths about a soft drink tax', Democracy Institute, 3 June 2009.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Smoke gets in the government’s eyes', Spiked, 23 June 2009.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Turning fat people into social outcasts', Spiked, 30 June 2009.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Banning alcohol ads won’t cure alcoholism', Spiked, 21 July 2009.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'On discrimination against fat African-American women', Democracy Institute, 29 July 2009.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'A fat doctor in the White House?', Democracy Institute, 29 July 2009.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, DI Report, 'Alcohol Advertising Bans', Democracy Institute, September 20 September 2009.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'The City That Never Smokes', Spiked, 26 October 2009.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Can the UK Avert a Smoking Irish Failure?', Cato Institute, 29 October 2009.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, Are Public Smoking Bans Necessary?, Democracy Institute, 17 December 2009.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'In Defense of Santa', TownHall.com, 24 December 2009.

2010

• Patrick Basham & John Luik, The myth of an ‘obesity tsunami’, Spiked, 19 January 2010.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'A bleary-eyed attitude to alcohol research', Spiked, 2 February 2010.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Patrick Basham and John Luik on the food addiction myth', Democracy Institute, 6 April 2010.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Let’s put cancerous myths to bed', Spiked, 28 April 2010.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Working class are under attack from health paternalism', The Guardian, 29 April 2010.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'The war on working class culture' (pdf), Democracy Institute, 4 May 2010.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Five-a-day won’t keep the doctor away', Spiked, 13 May 2010.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'More than the sum of our BMIs', Philly.com, 2 August 2010.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'A Happy Meal ban is nothing to smile about', Spiked, 9 November 2010.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'A public display of BMA ignorance', Spiked, 23 November 2010.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Treating people like lab rats', Spiked, 6 December 2010.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, '10 ways Christmas is good for your health' (pdf), Democracy Institute, 23 December 2010.

2011

• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Tobacco Display Bans: A Global Failure,Economic Affairs', Volume 31, Issue 1, pages 96–102, March 2011.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'The social benefits of gambling', Economic Affairs, Volume 31, Issue 1, pages 9–13, March 2011.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Healthcare for all! Unless you’re fat', Spiked, 3 March 2011.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'How the war on obesity went pear-shaped', Spiked, 15 March 2011.
• John Luik, 'Blank Slate: Will plain packaging catch on?', Tobacco Reporter, June 2011.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Public consultation on plain packaging of Tobacco Products', Submission to the Department of Health and Ageing Government of Australia, Democracy Institute, June 2011.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Plain packaging for consumer products and the implications for trademark rights', Washington Legal Foundation, 16 June 2011.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Tobacco’s Graphic Warning for the Gambling Industry', CalvinAyre.com, 15 July 2011.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'David Cameron’s unpalatable nannying', Spiked, 11 October 2011.

2012

• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Why the plain packaging consultation is deeply flawed', Institute of Economic Affairs, 9 July 2012.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Prescription for conflict: why the alliance between the pharmaceutical industry and the anti-tobacco movement is not in the best interests of smokers', Economic Affairs, Volume 32, Issue 2, pages 41–46, June 2012.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'The Plain Truth - Does Packaging Influence Smoking?', Democracy Institute, 14 March 2012.
• Patrick Basham & John Luik, 'Health Warnings on Consumer Products: Why Scarier Is Not Better', Washington Legal Foundation, 26 January 2012.

Tobacco industry connections - correspondence to or from John Luik

• Letter from Sunaina Virendra of Philip Morris to John Luik stating that British American Tobacco would like 500 copies of his book. 1 May 1995. View Letter.
• Letter from Jacqueline Smithson of Rothmans International to John Luik asking him to attend a meeting of the full Plain Packs Committee at Ryebrook on 26 October 1994. 3 August 1994. View Letter.
• Letter by John Luik outlining his proposals for a 'Corruption of Science Conference' in late 1994. In the letter Luik writes 'In order to avoid the look of a 'tobacco event' the conference would examine three issues of scientific corruption - all bearing on health policy - ETS, the recent exposure of fraudulent breast cancer research and the continuing controversy over red meat and cardio-vascular disease'. View Letter.
• Letter from John Luik to John Lepere of the Confederation of European Community Cigarette Manufacturers (CECCM). 18 November 1992. View Letter.
• Letter from John Luik to Matt Winokur of Philip Morris. In the letter Luik outlines his proposals for a book on free speech and the tobacco industry. 4 December 1990. View Letter.

Tobacco industry connections - correspondence regarding John Luik

• Letter from Mark Friedman of Philip Morris highlighting excerpts of John Luik's book 'Passive Smoke: The EPA's Betrayal of Science and Policy'. 12 April 1999. View Letter.
• Letter from Reg Hodgson of Philip Morris to Matt Winokur regarding media interest over John Luik's visit and the publication of his booklet 'Smokescreen: Passive Smoking and Public Policy'. 2 December 1996. View Letter.
• Internal Philip Morris letter discussing meetings with the media. Luik is identified as someone who 'can talk about any aspect of commercial freedoms of speech as well as public policy issues of public smoking restrictions'. 18 January 1996. View Letter.
• Progress report of a Plain Packs meeting attended by John Luik along with representatives from Philip Morris and Rothmans International. 17 January 1996. View Letter.
• Membership list for the Plain Packs Group. John Luik is included on the list along with representatives of the tobacco industry. 7 August 1995. View List.
• Report on a conference call regarding the Plain Packs Project. 26 July 1995. View Letter.
• Letter from Shabanji Opukah of British American Tobacco to Amit Sarkar regarding John Luik's book 'Do Tobacco Advertising Bans Really Work?'. One copy of the book was enclosed and Opukah ended the letter by saying 'I hope you find this useful in your lobbying efforts'. 21 June 1995. View Letter.
• Letter from BAT regarding the budget for the Plain Packs book. John Luik agrees to reduce his expenditures on the project to cover the deficit. 2 May 1995. View Letter.
• Agenda from the Plain Packs Working Group meeting of 26 October 1994. View Letter.
• Rothmans International letter sent to Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds asking for views on who would be best suited to be spokesperson on 'the ETS/corrupt science issue' at the Corrupt Science seminar in the UK. View Letter.
• Rothmans International memo regarding the Plain Packs Group. Chapter headings for a Plain Packs book, agreed at a meeting on 28 July 1994, are outlined. 5 August 1994. View Letter.
• Rothmans International memo regarding the Plain Packs Group. In the memo it is stated that John Luik has begun looking for potential contributors. 29 June 1994. View Letter.
• Letter from David Bacon of BAT to Jacqueline Smithson of Rothmans International. In the letter Bacon writes 'I am pleased to advise you that BAT is prepared to meet its share of US$22,500 towards the cost of the publication managed by Dr John Luik. 13 June 1994. View Letter.
• Rothmans International memo stating that John Luik has been invited to the next meeting of the Plain Packs Group to 'present his proposals for acting as Managing Editor of a book covering all aspects of the plain packs issue'. 8 April 1994. View Letter.
• Letter from Richard Marcotullio of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company regarding a publication by John Luik which is critical of the UK's 'Smee Report'. 31 March 1994. View Letter.
• A British American Tobacco letter circulating John Luik's publication 'Pandora's Box; The Dangers of Politically Corrupted Science for Democratic Public Policy'. 5 January 1994. View Letter.
• Internal Philip Morris letter discussing usage of John Luik's 'Pandora's Box' article for lobbying purposes. 21 December 1993. View Letter.
• Letter from Chris Proctor of British American Tobacco to John Lepere of the Confederation of European Community Cigarette Manufacturers (CECCM). Proctor asks Lepere to pass on his comments to John Luik. 12 November 1993. View Letter.
• Internal Philip Morris letter suggesting some changes to John Luik's draft 'Pandora's Box paper. 6 July 1993. View Letter.
• Letter from John Lepere of the Confederation of European Community Cigarette Manufacturers (CECCM) to representatives of the tobacco industry seeking comments on John Luik's 'Pandor's Box' paper. View Letter.
• Internal British American Tobacco note regarding John Luik's 'Freedom of Expression', a publication on the Canadian court judgement on tobacco advertising. David Bacon of BAT ends the note by saying 'Enclosed are a number of copies which I am sure you will put to good use'. 11 March 1992. View Letter.
• Letter from Jacqueline Smithson of Rothmans International to Michael Leach Esq. of the Tobacco Advisory Council regarding John Luik's CV and the launch of 'Freedom of Expression'. 28 October 1991. View Letter.
• Letter from A. A. Wood of Rothmans International to P. W. Brown. In the letter Wood suggests that John Luik may be of interest as a contributor at a Associates for Research in the Science of Enjoyment (ARISE) Conference. 14 August 1991. View Letter.

Affiliations

Democracy Institute | Spiked | Fraser Institute | FORCES | Niagara Institute | Janus Global Consulting| The American Spectator | Janus Center | International Center for Alcohol Policies | Shook, Hardy and Bacon