Seeking to be seen as legitimate members of the scientific community? An analysis of British American Tobacco and Philip Morris International’s involvement in scientific events

Britta Matthes; Alice Fabbri; Sarah Dance; Louis Laurence; Karin Silver; Anna Gilmore

doi:10.1136/tc-2022-057809

Seeking to be seen as legitimate members of the scientific community? An analysis of British American Tobacco and Philip Morris International’s involvement in scientific events

Britta Matthes, Alice Fabbri, Sarah Dance, Louis Laurence, Karin Silver, Anna Gilmore

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Citation (SciVal)

Abstract

Introduction
For decades, tobacco companies manipulated and misused science. They funded and disseminated favourable research and suppressed research that showed the harms of their products, deliberately generating misinformation. While previous work has examined many of the practices involved, their engagement in scientific events has so far not been systematically studied. Here, we examine the involvement of British American Tobacco (BAT) and Philip Morris International (PMI) in scientific events, including conferences, symposia and workshops.

Methods
Our analysis involved two steps. First, we collected all available data PMI and BAT provided on their websites to identify events. Second, we extracted information about the nature of tobacco industry involvement from event websites and materials.

Results
We identified 213 scientific events that BAT and/or PMI representatives attended between April 2012 and September 2021. Most events took place in high-income countries in Europe and North America. They covered a diverse range of fields, including toxicology (n=60, 28.1%), medicine (n=25, 11.7%), biology (n=24, 11.3%), chemistry (n=23, 10.8%) and aerosol science (n=18, 8.5%), as well as dentistry (n=9, 4.2%), pharmaceutical science (n=8, 3.8%) and computing (n=8, 3.8%). We identified 356 posters provided by BAT and PMI that linked to 118 events (55.4%) as well as 77 presentations from 65 events (30.5%). Industry involvement through sponsorship (nine events), exhibition (three events) or organising committee (one event) was rare.

Conclusion
BAT and PMI representatives attended a large number and wide range of scientific events. Given that scientific events could be a crucial platform for building connections in the scientific sphere and disseminating industry’s messages, this work highlights the importance of denormalising the tobacco industry’s involvement in scientific events.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	464-471
Number of pages	8
Journal	Tobacco Control
Volume	33
Early online date	3 Feb 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1136/tc-2022-057809
Publication status	Published - 20 Jun 2024

Bibliographical note

Bloomberg Philanthropies SPECTRUM Consortium - MR/S037519/1

Funding Information:
To address the overwhelming evidence of the tobacco industry’s scientific misconduct, several measures were taken. For example, the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement ordered the dissolution of three tobacco industry research bodies (Council for Tobacco Research (formerly Tobacco Industry Research Committee), Tobacco Institute, Centre for Indoor Air Research). The 2006 Kessler verdict banned US-based tobacco companies from reconstituting the form or function of these bodies given their role in fraudulently deceiving the American public. Several reputable health journals, including some BMJ journals (such as Tobacco Control) and PLoS journals, will no longer consider tobacco industry-sponsored research; research funders such as Cancer Research UK, the Norwegian Cancer Society, the Irish Health Research Board and the Wellcome Trust adopted policies to protect the work they fund from association with tobacco industry interests; and several universities have policies precluding acceptance of tobacco industry research funding with some also now rejecting funding from the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (FSFW), a recently established industry scientific front group. Some conference organisers, including the World and European Conferences on Tobacco or Health and, more recently, the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) and the World Heart Federation, have adopted policies seeking to exclude industry from their events.

Funding Information:
This project, and the time of BKM, SD, LL, KS and ABG, were funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies Stopping Tobacco Organisations and Products project funding (www.bloomberg.org). AF was supported by the SPECTRUM Consortium (MR/S037519/1), which is funded by the UK Prevention Research Partnership (UKPRP). UKPRP is an initiative funded by the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, Health and Social Care Research and Development Division (Welsh Government), Medical Research Council, National Institute for Health Research, Natural Environment Research Council, Public Health Agency (Northern Ireland), The Health Foundation and Wellcome.

Data Availability Statement

Data are available upon reasonable request

Keywords

denormalization
global health
tobacco industry

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Health(social science)
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1136/tc-2022-057809Licence: CC BY

Cite this

@article{2e6fd89344d44ca08e85d37ac51f0cf4,

title = "Seeking to be seen as legitimate members of the scientific community? An analysis of British American Tobacco and Philip Morris International{\textquoteright}s involvement in scientific events",

abstract = "Introduction For decades, tobacco companies manipulated and misused science. They funded and disseminated favourable research and suppressed research that showed the harms of their products, deliberately generating misinformation. While previous work has examined many of the practices involved, their engagement in scientific events has so far not been systematically studied. Here, we examine the involvement of British American Tobacco (BAT) and Philip Morris International (PMI) in scientific events, including conferences, symposia and workshops.MethodsOur analysis involved two steps. First, we collected all available data PMI and BAT provided on their websites to identify events. Second, we extracted information about the nature of tobacco industry involvement from event websites and materials.ResultsWe identified 213 scientific events that BAT and/or PMI representatives attended between April 2012 and September 2021. Most events took place in high-income countries in Europe and North America. They covered a diverse range of fields, including toxicology (n=60, 28.1%), medicine (n=25, 11.7%), biology (n=24, 11.3%), chemistry (n=23, 10.8%) and aerosol science (n=18, 8.5%), as well as dentistry (n=9, 4.2%), pharmaceutical science (n=8, 3.8%) and computing (n=8, 3.8%). We identified 356 posters provided by BAT and PMI that linked to 118 events (55.4%) as well as 77 presentations from 65 events (30.5%). Industry involvement through sponsorship (nine events), exhibition (three events) or organising committee (one event) was rare.ConclusionBAT and PMI representatives attended a large number and wide range of scientific events. Given that scientific events could be a crucial platform for building connections in the scientific sphere and disseminating industry{\textquoteright}s messages, this work highlights the importance of denormalising the tobacco industry{\textquoteright}s involvement in scientific events.",

keywords = "denormalization, global health, tobacco industry",

author = "Britta Matthes and Alice Fabbri and Sarah Dance and Louis Laurence and Karin Silver and Anna Gilmore",

note = "Bloomberg Philanthropies SPECTRUM Consortium - MR/S037519/1 Funding Information: To address the overwhelming evidence of the tobacco industry{\textquoteright}s scientific misconduct, several measures were taken. For example, the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement ordered the dissolution of three tobacco industry research bodies (Council for Tobacco Research (formerly Tobacco Industry Research Committee), Tobacco Institute, Centre for Indoor Air Research). The 2006 Kessler verdict banned US-based tobacco companies from reconstituting the form or function of these bodies given their role in fraudulently deceiving the American public. Several reputable health journals, including some BMJ journals (such as Tobacco Control) and PLoS journals, will no longer consider tobacco industry-sponsored research; research funders such as Cancer Research UK, the Norwegian Cancer Society, the Irish Health Research Board and the Wellcome Trust adopted policies to protect the work they fund from association with tobacco industry interests; and several universities have policies precluding acceptance of tobacco industry research funding with some also now rejecting funding from the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (FSFW), a recently established industry scientific front group. Some conference organisers, including the World and European Conferences on Tobacco or Health and, more recently, the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) and the World Heart Federation, have adopted policies seeking to exclude industry from their events. Funding Information: This project, and the time of BKM, SD, LL, KS and ABG, were funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies Stopping Tobacco Organisations and Products project funding (www.bloomberg.org). AF was supported by the SPECTRUM Consortium (MR/S037519/1), which is funded by the UK Prevention Research Partnership (UKPRP). UKPRP is an initiative funded by the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, Health and Social Care Research and Development Division (Welsh Government), Medical Research Council, National Institute for Health Research, Natural Environment Research Council, Public Health Agency (Northern Ireland), The Health Foundation and Wellcome. ",

year = "2024",

month = jun,

day = "20",

doi = "10.1136/tc-2022-057809",

language = "English",

volume = "33",

pages = "464--471",

journal = "Tobacco Control",

issn = "1468-3318",

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T1 - Seeking to be seen as legitimate members of the scientific community? An analysis of British American Tobacco and Philip Morris International’s involvement in scientific events

AU - Matthes, Britta

AU - Fabbri, Alice

AU - Dance, Sarah

AU - Laurence, Louis

AU - Silver, Karin

AU - Gilmore, Anna

N1 - Bloomberg Philanthropies SPECTRUM Consortium - MR/S037519/1 Funding Information: To address the overwhelming evidence of the tobacco industry’s scientific misconduct, several measures were taken. For example, the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement ordered the dissolution of three tobacco industry research bodies (Council for Tobacco Research (formerly Tobacco Industry Research Committee), Tobacco Institute, Centre for Indoor Air Research). The 2006 Kessler verdict banned US-based tobacco companies from reconstituting the form or function of these bodies given their role in fraudulently deceiving the American public. Several reputable health journals, including some BMJ journals (such as Tobacco Control) and PLoS journals, will no longer consider tobacco industry-sponsored research; research funders such as Cancer Research UK, the Norwegian Cancer Society, the Irish Health Research Board and the Wellcome Trust adopted policies to protect the work they fund from association with tobacco industry interests; and several universities have policies precluding acceptance of tobacco industry research funding with some also now rejecting funding from the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (FSFW), a recently established industry scientific front group. Some conference organisers, including the World and European Conferences on Tobacco or Health and, more recently, the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) and the World Heart Federation, have adopted policies seeking to exclude industry from their events. Funding Information: This project, and the time of BKM, SD, LL, KS and ABG, were funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies Stopping Tobacco Organisations and Products project funding (www.bloomberg.org). AF was supported by the SPECTRUM Consortium (MR/S037519/1), which is funded by the UK Prevention Research Partnership (UKPRP). UKPRP is an initiative funded by the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, Health and Social Care Research and Development Division (Welsh Government), Medical Research Council, National Institute for Health Research, Natural Environment Research Council, Public Health Agency (Northern Ireland), The Health Foundation and Wellcome.

PY - 2024/6/20

Y1 - 2024/6/20

N2 - Introduction For decades, tobacco companies manipulated and misused science. They funded and disseminated favourable research and suppressed research that showed the harms of their products, deliberately generating misinformation. While previous work has examined many of the practices involved, their engagement in scientific events has so far not been systematically studied. Here, we examine the involvement of British American Tobacco (BAT) and Philip Morris International (PMI) in scientific events, including conferences, symposia and workshops.MethodsOur analysis involved two steps. First, we collected all available data PMI and BAT provided on their websites to identify events. Second, we extracted information about the nature of tobacco industry involvement from event websites and materials.ResultsWe identified 213 scientific events that BAT and/or PMI representatives attended between April 2012 and September 2021. Most events took place in high-income countries in Europe and North America. They covered a diverse range of fields, including toxicology (n=60, 28.1%), medicine (n=25, 11.7%), biology (n=24, 11.3%), chemistry (n=23, 10.8%) and aerosol science (n=18, 8.5%), as well as dentistry (n=9, 4.2%), pharmaceutical science (n=8, 3.8%) and computing (n=8, 3.8%). We identified 356 posters provided by BAT and PMI that linked to 118 events (55.4%) as well as 77 presentations from 65 events (30.5%). Industry involvement through sponsorship (nine events), exhibition (three events) or organising committee (one event) was rare.ConclusionBAT and PMI representatives attended a large number and wide range of scientific events. Given that scientific events could be a crucial platform for building connections in the scientific sphere and disseminating industry’s messages, this work highlights the importance of denormalising the tobacco industry’s involvement in scientific events.

AB - Introduction For decades, tobacco companies manipulated and misused science. They funded and disseminated favourable research and suppressed research that showed the harms of their products, deliberately generating misinformation. While previous work has examined many of the practices involved, their engagement in scientific events has so far not been systematically studied. Here, we examine the involvement of British American Tobacco (BAT) and Philip Morris International (PMI) in scientific events, including conferences, symposia and workshops.MethodsOur analysis involved two steps. First, we collected all available data PMI and BAT provided on their websites to identify events. Second, we extracted information about the nature of tobacco industry involvement from event websites and materials.ResultsWe identified 213 scientific events that BAT and/or PMI representatives attended between April 2012 and September 2021. Most events took place in high-income countries in Europe and North America. They covered a diverse range of fields, including toxicology (n=60, 28.1%), medicine (n=25, 11.7%), biology (n=24, 11.3%), chemistry (n=23, 10.8%) and aerosol science (n=18, 8.5%), as well as dentistry (n=9, 4.2%), pharmaceutical science (n=8, 3.8%) and computing (n=8, 3.8%). We identified 356 posters provided by BAT and PMI that linked to 118 events (55.4%) as well as 77 presentations from 65 events (30.5%). Industry involvement through sponsorship (nine events), exhibition (three events) or organising committee (one event) was rare.ConclusionBAT and PMI representatives attended a large number and wide range of scientific events. Given that scientific events could be a crucial platform for building connections in the scientific sphere and disseminating industry’s messages, this work highlights the importance of denormalising the tobacco industry’s involvement in scientific events.

KW - denormalization

KW - global health

KW - tobacco industry

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U2 - 10.1136/tc-2022-057809

DO - 10.1136/tc-2022-057809

M3 - Article

SN - 1468-3318

VL - 33

SP - 464

EP - 471

JO - Tobacco Control

JF - Tobacco Control

ER -

Seeking to be seen as legitimate members of the scientific community? An analysis of British American Tobacco and Philip Morris International’s involvement in scientific events

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Data Availability Statement

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Bloomberg STOP

Cite this

Seeking to be seen as legitimate members of the scientific community? An analysis of British American Tobacco and Philip Morris International’s involvement in scientific events

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Data Availability Statement

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Projects

Bloomberg STOP

Cite this