(Continued)
Proposal 3 — Apply Globally Practices Demanded By The Master Settlement Agreement
The Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, P. O. Box 479 Convent Station, NJ 07961-0476, claiming
beneficial ownership of 200 shares of common stock, together with the Sisters of St. Dominic of
Caldwell New Jersey, Office of Corporate Responsibility, 40 South Fullerton Avenue, Montclair, NJ
07042, claiming beneficial ownership of 100 shares of common stock submitted the proposal set forth below. Whereas: this company has signed the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) with various States’
Attorneys General to settle claims against it for, among other things, marketing to children and share healthcare costs for treatment of diseases caused by its products; Under the MSA, we agreed to restrict marketing to adolescents including no billboard advertising, no distribution of brand name promotional items except in adult only establishments and no direct or indirect marketing to adolescents. While the company has agreed to abide by the MSA in this country, its continued promotion of its products abroad are resulting in many poor youth taking up our products. An estimated half of these will be killed prematurely by diseases caused by using this Company’s products. These countries are found from Greece to Indonesia to El Salvador. There, billboards and other very public displays continually make impressions on youth enticing them to use this Company’s products. In a New York Times piece June, 2006, our Company’s Vice President, Steve Parrish, touted its commitment to manufacturing “safer” cigarettes in the U.S. This investment in a new $300 million Richmond Plant to produce a “safer” cigarettes seems paradoxical at the least and cynical at the most when, at the same time, we purchased Sampora, Indonesia’s second largest tobacco for $5.4 billion. This company’s Kreteks have 50 times the amount of tar than our “safer” U.S. cigarettes called Marlboro UltraSmooth. At the same time the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention has found that levels of certain carcinogens are far higher in countries like Bangladesh, China and Kenya (BusinessWeek 06.23.03). U.S. drug companies are required by U.S. law to manufacture and market drugs in the same way as they do in the U.S. in developing nations. Our failure to have the same marketing practices called for the MSA for U.S. in poor nations could result in increased litigation risk and could call into question the validity of our corporate responsibility campaign. An example of the double standard is found in that, while we no longer advertise cigarettes on billboards in the U.S., it is common practice in some other nations. The World Health Organization predicts one billion persons will be killed from tobacco products in this century worldwide. Given our ever-increasing market share, many of these deaths will be inflicted by those people using this company’s tobacco products. RESOLVED: the shareholders request that Altria’s Board of Directors voluntarily adopt globally for all its tobacco products the marketing and advertising provisions of the U.S. Master Settlement Agreement. The shareholders request that, where there are inconsistencies, the stricter interpretation leading to less harm shall be endorsed. 
The Board recommends a vote AGAINST this proposal.
The U.S. Master Settlement Agreement applies primarily to cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products sold in the U.S. On March 28, 2008, the Company completed the spin-off of Philip Morris International Inc. (“PMI”). Thus, the Company no longer owns or controls any entities manufacturing or marketing cigarettes or smokeless tobacco products outside of the United States and this proposal is no longer applicable to the Company. Therefore, the Board urges stockholders to vote AGAINST this proposal, and proxies received by the Company will be so voted unless stockholders specify a contrary choice in their proxies. |