Organization: Altria Group Inc.

Year: 2015

Resolved: Resolved: Shareholders of Altria Group, Inc. (the 'Company') urge the Board of Directors to prepare a report, within ninety days of the 2015 annual meeting of stockholders, at reasonable cost and excluding proprietary and personal information, on the steps the Company has taken to reduce the risk of acute nicotine poisoning ('Green Tobacco Sickness') for farmworkers in the Company's supply chain for tobacco. The report should include a quantitative summary of the results of the Company's inspections of its suppliers.

Supporting Statement:Supporting Statement: Green Tobacco Sickness is an occupational hazard that occurs when farmworkers absorb nicotine through the skin after contacting leaves of tobacco plants. Children and adolescents are particularly susceptible to Green Tobacco Sickness, and its symptoms include nausea, vomiting, headache, muscle weakness, and dizziness. Robert McKnight and Henry Spiller, 'Green Tobacco Sickness in Children and Adolescents,' Public Health Rep. 2005 Nov-Dec; 120(6): 602-606. Available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1497768/. The tobacco industry has recognized that Green Tobacco Sickness is a significant social policy issue that needs to be addressed. In 2009, The Wall Street Journal reported that 'The world's biggest tobacco companies - under pressure from human-rights and farm-labor activists - are publicly acknowledging the health risks associated with green tobacco sickness and taking steps designed to help prevent it.' Lauren Etter, 'Tackling Green Tobacco Sickness: Companies Seek to Help Field Workers Avoid Acute Nicotine Poisoning,' The Wall Street Journal, March 24, 2009. Available at http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB123785974499021145. Children who are under age 18 work as tobacco farmworkers in the United States and are exposed to Green Tobacco Sickness as an occupational risk. A 2014 Human Rights Watch report described symptoms of Green Tobacco Sickness in nearly three-quarters of 141 child tobacco workers, ages 7 to 17, who were interviewed and worked in North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia in 2012 or 2013. Human Rights Watch, 'Tobacco's Hidden Children: Hazardous Child Labor in United States Tobacco Farming,' May 2014. Available at http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/us0514_UploadNew.pdf. Our Company's existing policies may not sufficiently protect underage farmworkers from the risk of Green Tobacco Sickness. In 2014, The New York Times reported that although our Company does not condone the unlawful employment of underage farmworkers, that because 'federal law and regulations do not define tobacco field work as hazardous, it remains permissible for workers under age 18.' Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times, Just 13, and Working Risky 12-Hour Shifts in the Tobacco Fields, September 6, 2014. Available at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/07/business/just-13-and-working-risky-12-hour-shifts-in-the-tobacco-fields.html. As shareholders, we are concerned that the existence of Green Tobacco Sickness as an occupational hazard in our Company's supply chain for tobacco could harm our Company's brand names and corporate reputation. To protect these assets and provide transparency, we believe that our Company should issue a report on the steps it has taken to reduce the risk of Green Tobacco Sickness. For these reasons, we urge a vote 'FOR' this proposal.