Guildford Archiving Project (GAP)

The project is a joint undertaking by a consortium of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Mayo Clinic. It aims to secure and expand public access to a major collection of internal tobacco industry documents from British American Tobacco (BAT), currently held in a depository in Guildford, UK. Given the unique importance of these documents, current difficulties of access, and the scheduled closure of the Depository in 2009, GAP was initiated in 2001 to secure and expand public access to these documents. Funded by a consortium of donors, the project has now requested photocopies of the entire collection from BAT. Despite lengthy delays, these photocopies are gradually being received from BAT, then scanned and indexed in preparation for mounting on a public website known as BATDA. The project was conducted clandestinely and then publicly launched in May 2004 to much media acclaim. The first batch of these documents went live in autumn 2004 and the numvers publicly available are growing steadily.

This project will provide the public health community with a critical resource which can help inform the development of more effective tobacco control research and policy activities necessary to tackle the 10 million deaths from tobacco-related diseases predicted worldwide by 2030.

GAP Press Release 27th May 2004

GAP Questions & Answers

Lancet articles - log in required.

Big tobacco is watching: British American Tobacco's surveillance
and information concealment at the Guildford depository.
Monique E Muggli, Eric M LeGresley, Richard D Hurt.

Unlocking the corporate documents of British American Tobacco:
an invaluable global resource needs radically improved access.
Jeff Collin, Kelley Lee, Anna B Gilmore

Tobacco Control articles - links to abstracts, subscription required for full articles
Tobacco and transition: an overview of industry investments, impact and influence
in the former Soviet Union.
AB Gilmore and M McKee Abstract

Moving East: how the transnational tobacco industry gained entry to the emerging markets
of the former Soviet Union. Part I: establishing cigarette imports.
AB Gilmore and M McKee. Abstract

Moving East: how the transnational tobacco industry gained entry to the emerging markets
of the former Soviet Union. Part II: an overview of priorities and tactics used to establish a manufacturing presence.
AB Gilmore and M McKee Abstract

Links to media coverage Researchers seize moment to make tobacco data public Nature Tobacco giant accused over files BBC News online Tobacco firm accused over access to files The Guardian (UK) After four years of copying and scanning, the tobacco industry's eight million secrets are out The Independent (UK) Were tobacco lawyers being watched? Minneapolis Star Tribune (US) British American Tobacco Documents Hard to Access, Lancet Says Bloomberg.com BAT is accused of obstructing research FT.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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