Influence Of Tobacco Industry Research Articles

Tracking and tracing the tobacco industry: potential tobacco industry influence over the EU’s system for tobacco traceability and security features

BackgroundSubsequent to the transnational tobacco companies’ (TTC) history of involvement in tobacco smuggling, the Illicit Trade Protocol (ITP) requires that tobacco tracking and tracing (T&T) systems be established independent of...

A “win-win situation overall”: lessons from tobacco industry influence of the negotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement

A “win-win situation overall”: lessons from tobacco industry influence of the negotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement

A case for clean conferences in gambling research.

Gambling research is characterised by widespread gambling industry involvement. It is likely (as with alcohol and tobacco industry influence) that this will delay or divert effective harm prevention or minimisation measures. Gambling harms are known to be significant and widespread. Effective action to reduce these harms requires concomitant efforts to eliminate industry influence. Gambling industry influence and activity in three research forums is described. The influence of tobacco and alcohol industry involvement in research directions and outcomes is discussed. Aspects of the discursive elements of industry funded and/or directed research outputs are analysed in the context of industry-friendly discourse and its effects. Industry activity and participation at representative research forums is outlined. The examples and background provided demonstrate that specific material and discursive effects of gambling industry involvement can be discerned in the gambling literature. The consequences of this for the gambling evidence base around harm prevention and minimisation are presented. Industry influence operates at multiple levels within the gambling research field. There is increasing awareness of this, and of the effects it may have on the development and deployment of effective harm prevention and minimisation efforts. Key reforms are proposed: (i) the elimination of industry participation and sponsorship of gambling research associations and forums; and (ii) the establishment where necessary of new research forums and international scholarly associations.

Brand Awareness and Access to Cigarettes Among Children 8-12 Years Old in the Czech Republic

The aim of the study is to assess smoking behaviour, knowledge of cigarette brands and access to cigarettes among children 8-12 years old in the Czech Republic. Between 2009 and 2012, a cross sectional survey was conducted among 4,439 children aged 8-12 years attending 51 primary schools in Prague and Central Bohemia, Czech Republic. Data including age, gender, ever smoking, parental and sibling smoking, knowledge of cigarette brands, sources of cigarettes, and smoking frequency were collected. Fifty nine percent of all children could name one or more cigarette brands, 62.8% of boys and 55.3% of girls (p<0.01). The most well-known brands were Marlboro and the local brand Petra. Marlboro was better known among boys, while Petra was more known among girls. Children whose parents smoke showed higher brand awareness than children with non-smoking parents, 72.5% and 45.6%, respectively (p<0.001), and 76.4% of children reported one or more possible sources where to obtain cigarettes. Nearly one quarter (23.3%) of children had ever tried cigarettes, water pipe, cigars, or marijuana. Nearly half of all children (43.1%) reported that they had obtained their first cigarette from a relative or at home, and the second most frequent source were their peers (22.8%). Only 3.9% of children reported that they had purchased their first cigarettes. Relatives were the main source of cigarettes among children that reported smoking more than once. The high level of cigarette brand awareness and ever smoking provide evidence that tobacco control policies in the Czech Republic do not adequately protect children. Tougher legislation and effective strategies in accordance with the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control are therefore required to better protect children from harmful effects of smoking and the influence of tobacco industry in the Czech Republic.

The Policy Dystopia Model: An Interpretive Analysis of Tobacco Industry Political Activity.

BackgroundTobacco industry interference has been identified as the greatest obstacle to the implementation of evidence-based measures to reduce tobacco use. Understanding and addressing industry interference in public health policy-making is therefore crucial. Existing conceptualisations of corporate political activity (CPA) are embedded in a business perspective and do not attend to CPA’s social and public health costs; most have not drawn on the unique resource represented by internal tobacco industry documents. Building on this literature, including systematic reviews, we develop a critically informed conceptual model of tobacco industry political activity.Methods and FindingsWe thematically analysed published papers included in two systematic reviews examining tobacco industry influence on taxation and marketing of tobacco; we included 45 of 46 papers in the former category and 20 of 48 papers in the latter (n = 65). We used a grounded theory approach to build taxonomies of “discursive” (argument-based) and “instrumental” (action-based) industry strategies and from these devised the Policy Dystopia Model, which shows that the industry, working through different constituencies, constructs a metanarrative to argue that proposed policies will lead to a dysfunctional future of policy failure and widely dispersed adverse social and economic consequences. Simultaneously, it uses diverse, interlocking insider and outsider instrumental strategies to disseminate this narrative and enhance its persuasiveness in order to secure its preferred policy outcomes. Limitations are that many papers were historical (some dating back to the 1970s) and focused on high-income regions.ConclusionsThe model provides an evidence-based, accessible way of understanding diverse corporate political strategies. It should enable public health actors and officials to preempt these strategies and develop realistic assessments of the industry’s claims.

The atlas network: a "strategic ally" of the tobacco industry.

SummaryAmid growing academic and policy interest in the influence of think tanks in public policy processes, this article demonstrates the extent of tobacco industry partnerships with think tanks in the USA, and analyzes how collaborating with a network of think tanks facilitated tobacco industry influence in public health policy. Through analysis of documents from tobacco companies and think tanks, we demonstrate that the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, a network of 449 free market think tanks, acted as a strategic ally to the tobacco industry throughout the 1990s. Atlas headquarters, while receiving donations from the industry, also channeled funding from tobacco corporations to think tank actors to produce publications supportive of industry positions. Thirty‐seven per cent of Atlas partner think tanks in the USA received funding from the tobacco industry; the majority of which were also listed as collaborators on public relations strategies or as allies in countering tobacco control efforts. By funding multiple think tanks, within a shared network, the industry was able to generate a conversation among independent policy experts, which reflected its position in tobacco control debates. This demonstrates a coherent strategy by the tobacco industry to work with Atlas to influence public health policies from multiple directions. There is a need for critical analysis of the influence of think tanks in tobacco control and other health policy sectors, as well as greater transparency of their funding and other links to vested interests. © 2016 The Authors The International Journal of Health Planning and Management Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd

SEATCA Tobacco Industry Interference Index: a tool for measuring implementation of WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Article 5.3

ObjectiveTo measure the implementation of WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Article 5.3 at country level using a new Tobacco Industry Interference Index and to report initial results using...

Understanding increases in smoking prevalence: case study from France in comparison with England 2000-10.

In France, following a long-term decline in smoking prevalence, an increase in smoking was observed between 2005 and 2010, an unusual occurrence in countries in the 'mature' stage of the smoking epidemic. By contrast, smoking prevalence in England, the neighbouring country, continued its long-term decline. We identified and translated recent reports on smoking and tobacco control in France and using these assessed the main data sources on smoking and compared them with similar sources in England, in order to explore possible explanations. In France, national smoking prevalence data are collected 5-yearly, minimizing opportunities for fine-grained analysis; the comparable study in England is implemented annually. We identified several probable causes of the recent increased prevalence of smoking in France, the primary one being the absence of sufficient price rises between 2005 and 2010, due probably to the lack of a robust tobacco control strategy, which also appeared to have empowered tobacco industry influence. Funding to compensate tobacconists appears to incentivize tobacco sales and is significantly higher than tobacco control funding. Mindful of the limitations of a case-study approach, the absence of sufficient price rises in the context of a weak tobacco control strategy seems the most likely explanation for the recent increase in smoking prevalence in France. A new cancer control plan and a national smoking reduction programme have been proposed by the French government in 2014 which, depending on implementation, may reverse the trend. In both countries, the higher levels of smoking among the more disadvantaged groups are of great concern and require greater political leadership for effective action.

"Throwing a rock at their armored tank": civilian authority and military tobacco control.

BackgroundTobacco use is a major cause of chronic disease, disability and death among military personnel and veterans. However, civilian public health and tobacco control advocates have been relatively silent on the issue. Research on the tobacco industry shows a long history of interference in military tobacco policy through relationships with the United States (US) Congress. The military cannot autonomously implement tobacco control, but is subject to Congressional oversight. Thus, the primary obstacles to effective tobacco control in the military are Congressional political opposition and tobacco industry influence, and by extension, a lack of civilian awareness and support in the policy arena.MethodsAs part of a larger project to explore the topic of civilian support for military tobacco control, we analyzed data from focus groups with public health professionals to better understand their sense of agency and authority in regards to military tobacco control. Researchers conducted 4 focus groups with a total of 36 public health professionals at key conferences for those working in public health and tobacco control. Data were coded and the research team developed an interpretive account that captured patterns and variations in the data.ResultsPublic health and tobacco control participants shared a sense of futility regarding civilian efforts to engage in military tobacco control. This stemmed from feeling ignorant of military culture and structure, identifying powerful discourses that opposed tobacco control, particularly in a military context, and the very-real presence of the tobacco industry lobby throughout the policy process.ConclusionsA strong public health voice on military tobacco control might serve to begin problematizing the tobacco industry’s influence in the military policy arena. As the military moves to institute stronger tobacco control policy, public health and tobacco control professionals should work to engage with and aid its efforts from the outside. Only with such civilian side support can the goal of a tobacco free military be realized.

Analysis of Smoking by South Korean Middle School Students: Shifting Preferences in Brand Choice and Rising Popularity of Marlboro Cigarettes

South Korean Global Youth Tobacco Surveys (GYTS) conducted in 2005 and 2008 were analyzed to determine changes in smoking behavior, cigarette brand choices, perceptions of smoking, and exposure to cigarette promotion/marketing and anti-smoking media messages. Results showed an increase in smoking prevalence, media exposure to cigarette advertising, and the offering of free cigarettes from cigarette company representatives, and a decrease in seeing anti-smoking messages and the perception that quitting smoking is difficult. There was a dramatic rise in the popularity of Marlboro as a brand choice among youth smokers in 2005 (9.1%) to 2008 (49.9%). These unfavorable trends suggest a pervasive tobacco industry influence among South Korean youth. Despite the regulations on advertising in South Korea that have been enacted and other anti-smoking policies which have been implemented, it appears that Philip Morris is particularly adept at circumventing advertising and market restrictions while effectively promoting Marlboro brand identity in youth.

Abstract PL04-03: Controlling tobacco use in minorities and the underserved.

Abstract The control of tobacco use among minorities and the underserved, calls for addressing large tobacco-related disparities. The leading cause of death in minority communities is usually a tobacco-related illness such as heart disease, cancer and stroke. These often exceed deaths caused by AIDS, homicides, diabetes and accidents in the most vulnerable communities worldwide. U.S. Minorities, such as American Indians, Koreans, Vietnamese, those of low socioeconomic status, and Lesbians, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) individuals smoke at a higher rate than European Americans. They tend to suffer a higher burden of disease due to the use of tobacco. But even when minority groups, such as Hispanic/Latinos (H/L) smoke less than European Americans (EA); or as African Americans (AA), start smoking later in life; tobacco related morbidity and mortality rates are still significantly higher than for their EA counterpart. Unfortunately, even when minorities want to quit, they face many obstacles and barriers that make it particularly difficult. To control tobacco use in minority and underserved communities we need to address the disproportionate targeting by the tobacco industry, development, advertising and marketing of menthol and other cigarettes that appeal to ethnic minority markets, the prevalence of tobacco retailers in low income neighborhoods where many minorities live, lack of access to adequate health care, the effect of low educational attainment; and the need to close loopholes in existing tobacco control laws that are impacting minorities in particularly important ways. We must focus on examining what is happening among minority youth, as most smokers begin a trajectory of addiction at an early age. We face particular challenges in countering the influence of new tobacco products that are very attractive to the younger segments of minority populations. For example it is not uncommon that despite an FDA ban on flavored cigarettes youth and young adults in minority and underserved communities become hooked on flavored tobacco products. This includes young adult Hispanic/Latinos and LGBT among whom the prevalence of flavored cigar use is higher than across other population groups. Objective three of the Tobacco Education and Research Oversight Committee (TEROC) of California calls for eliminating tobacco-related disparities among the underserved, and achieving equity in all aspects of tobacco control among California's diverse populations. To control tobacco use in these populations, equity and cultural competency standards need be incorporated in all aspects of tobacco control agencies, programs, processes, practices, and in the infrastructure. Strong prevention programs that delay or prevent initiation of tobacco use; increasing the numbers of minorities who quit using tobacco; and regulating through the new FDA Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act the tobacco industry's influence, are essential elements of a comprehensive tobacco control program that can make a difference in controlling tobacco use among minorities and the underserved. Citation Format: Lourdes A. Baezconde-Garbanati. Controlling tobacco use in minorities and the underserved. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Fifth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2012 Oct 27-30; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2012;21(10 Suppl):Abstract nr PL04-03.

Regulating duty free sales and tobacco advertising in airports: a call for action

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The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control as a tool for advancing health promotion: perspective from the Eastern Mediterranean Region

The paper addresses the impact of the adoption and implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, and how successful the FCTC is as a tool for health promotion. The FCTC implementation has impacted areas such as surveillance systems for tobacco control, increasing political commitment, development of legislation and addressing new social norms in tobacco consumption. These developments help to overcome many challenges for better health promotion in the region. However, there are still other challenges such as the tobacco industry influence, but those challenges will not undermine the gains already achieved through both the negotiation process and implementation process of the FCTC. In conclusion, implementation of the FCTC has contributed positively to advancing health promotion in the region, and the continuation of strong implementation will lead to even better outcomes.

Policy-driven tobacco control

BackgroundSince the passage of Proposition 99, California's comprehensive tobacco control programme has benefited from a localised policy adoption process that allows for the innovation and diffusion of strong local tobacco...

The Social and Political Context of the Tobacco Epidemic: Nursing Research and Scholarship on the Tobacco Industry

Context matters in addressing tobacco as a global nursing issue. The tobacco epidemic and its resulting health consequences are in great measure the result of industrial decisions over the past century that included deliberately enhancing the addictiveness of cigarettes, marketing them aggressively to vulnerable groups, hiding or manipulating knowledge about the products' harmfulness, and undermining public health efforts. The efforts of the tobacco industry to perpetuate the idea that smoking is solely a problem of individual behavior, or even a "right," still creates barriers to understanding the larger social and political context within which individuals use and attempt to quit tobacco. Nurses have been among the researchers worldwide who are studying tobacco industry activities and their role in policy and public health. This chapter reviews data sources, methods, and analytic approaches for conducting research using documents from the tobacco industry, and provides an overview of research conducted by nurses on this topic. Much of the nursing research to date on the tobacco industry focuses in four broad areas: (1) tobacco industry influence on policy; (2) tobacco industry strategic responses to public health efforts, including use of front groups and attempts to divide and conquer public health advocates; (3) tobacco industry targeting of marginalized groups; and (4) tobacco industry influence on science. Implications of this work for nursing practice, research, and policy intervention are discussed.

Assessing consumer responses to potential reduced-exposure tobacco products: a review of tobacco industry and independent research methods.

Internal tobacco industry documents and the mainstream literature are reviewed to identify methods and measures for evaluating tobacco consumer response. The review aims to outline areas in which established methods exist, identify gaps in current methods for assessing consumer response, and consider how these methods might be applied to evaluate potentially reduced exposure tobacco products and new products. Internal industry research reviewed included published articles, manuscript drafts, presentations, protocols, and instruments relating to consumer response measures were identified and analyzed. Peer-reviewed research was identified using PubMed and Scopus. Industry research on consumer response focuses on product development and marketing. To develop and refine new products, the tobacco industry has developed notable strategies for assessing consumers' sensory and subjective responses to product design characteristics. Independent research is often conducted to gauge the likelihood of future product adoption by measuring consumers' risk perceptions, responses to product, and product acceptability. A model that conceptualizes consumer response as comprising the separate, but interacting, domains of product perceptions and response to product is outlined. Industry and independent research supports the dual domain model and provides a wide range of methods for assessment of the construct components of consumer response. Further research is needed to validate consumer response constructs, determine the relationship between consumer response and tobacco user behavior, and improve reliability of consumer response measures. Scientifically rigorous consumer response assessment methods will provide a needed empirical basis for future regulation of potentially reduced-exposure tobacco products and new products, to counteract tobacco industry influence on consumers, and enhance the public health.

Enacting tobacco taxes by direct popular vote in the United States: lessons from 20 years of experience

Background:Tobacco tax increases reduce tobacco use, can provide funds for tobacco prevention and enjoy broad public support. Because of tobacco industry influence in legislatures, US public health advocates have shifted...

False promises: the tobacco industry, "low tar" cigarettes, and older smokers.

To investigate the role of the tobacco industry in marketing to and sustaining tobacco addiction among older smokers and aging baby boomers, We performed archival searches of electronic archives of internal tobacco company documents using a snowball sampling approach. Analysis was done using iterative and comparative review of documents, classification by themes, and a hermeneutic interpretive approach to develop a case study. Based on extensive marketing research, tobacco companies aggressively targeted older smokers and sought to prevent them from quitting. Innovative marketing approaches were used. "Low tar" cigarettes were developed in response to the health concerns of older smokers, despite industry knowledge that such products had no health advantage and did not help smokers quit. Tobacco industry activities influence the context of cessation for older smokers in several ways. Through marketing "low tar" or "light" cigarettes to older smokers "at risk" of quitting, the industry contributes to the illusion that such cigarettes are safer, although "light" cigarettes may make it harder for addicted smokers to quit. Through targeted mailings of coupons and incentives, the industry discourages older smokers from quitting. Through rhetoric aimed at convincing addicted smokers that they alone are responsible for their smoking, the industry contributes to self-blame, a documented barrier to cessation. Educating practitioners, older smokers, and families about the tobacco industry's influence may decrease the tendency to "blame the victim," thereby enhancing the likelihood of older adults receiving tobacco addiction treatment. Comprehensive tobacco control measures must include a focus on older smokers.

CIGARETTE TAXES AND THE MASTER SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT

I. INTRODUCTION In 1998, 46 states and the four major tobacco companies entered into the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), which settled litigation brought on behalf of the states to recover medical expenses paid by government insurance agencies for illness brought on by consumption of tobacco products (National Association of Attorneys General 2003). The four remaining states (Florida, Minnesota, Mississippi, and Texas) settled separately with the companies. The MSA stipulated that the tobacco companies pay the states an estimated $206 billion over the next several years. The payments are made annually and are adjusted for the number of cigarettes sold in each state in each year. In this sense, the MSA payment structure resembles an excise tax. The strategy of using litigation as an instrument for discouraging consumption of a commodity deemed to be harmful to consumers is becoming more common (Parmet and Daynard 2000). The impact that such litigation has on other tobacco control policies, such as excise taxes, depends on the extent to which litigation and such policies are substitutable. The MSA payments could substitute for excise taxes at the state level. This may be so to the extent that state legislatures have succeeded in levying socially optimal excise tax rates. (1) If so, states would be expected to have reduced excise taxes on cigarettes after the settlements were reached. Similarly, one would expect that various tobacco control policies, such as workplace smoking bans, would be substitutes, albeit imperfect ones, for state cigarette excise taxes and for penalties resulting from litigation that function as excise taxes. Alternatively, litigation and the resulting settlement may have changed the balance of power between tobacco control advocates and the tobacco manufacturers with the consequence that the settlements and state excise taxes are complements. The tobacco industry's influence on federal and state legislatures, historically, has been an impediment to enacting tobacco control legislation at either federal or state levels (Kelder and Daynard 1997; Parmet and Daynard 2000). Rather than crowd out state excise taxes, the MSA could have led to crowding in. A cursory glance at the data supports the view that litigation changes the balance of power. Since the MSA and four individual state settlements were reached, the former in November 1998 and the individual settlements somewhat earlier, state legislatures have increasingly looked to state excise taxes on cigarettes as a source of revenue, relative to both excise taxes imposed on alcohol and state taxes more generally (Figure 1). In particular, the largest jumps in the mean real state excise tax on cigarettes occurred in 1997 and 2002. In fiscal year 2003, for example, state excise tax increases were larger than any other single type of tax including major sources of revenue such as income taxes (National Governors Association and National Association of State Budget Officers 2002). These increases did not coincide with increases in the mean real state excise tax on beer; the only year in which real state excise taxes on beer rose was 1998. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] Such trends could have been due to factors other than the settlement. The goal of our empirical analysis is to assess whether the changes in cigarette excise taxes can be attributed to the settlement when other factors are held constant. Using pre-post as well as state excise taxes on beer as controls in a panel data difference-in-difference approach, the evidence on balance provides support for the view that litigation and cigarette excise taxes are complements, which is consistent with changes in the political equilibrium. II. DATA AND EMPIRICAL SPECIFICATION Overview We use a panel data difference-in-difference (D-D) regression design to test whether the litigation substituted for (crowd out) or complemented (crowd in) state excise taxes. …

INDEPENDENT RESEARCH ON TOBACCO CONTROL IN GERMANY

In their article, “Tobacco Industry Influence on Science and Scientists in Germany,” Gruning et al.1 described the various methods by which the tobacco industry distorts science: (1) suppression of unfavorable research results, (2) dilution through selective funding of research and recruitment of scientists, (3) distraction of the attention from smoking as a cause of tobacco-related diseases, (4) concealment of the relationships between scientists and the tobacco industry, and (5) manipulation of publications. I congratulate the authors for their in-depth research on tobacco industry manipulations in which several leading German public health scientists were involved. However, these findings must not be allowed to detract from the important achievements of independent medical and public health researchers in Germany. Recently, researchers from the German Cancer Research Center, the University of Heidelberg, and the University of Munster presented valid estimates of the mortality due to passive smoking in Germany of at least 3300 deaths per year.2 After the weakening of public health research and practice because of misuse during the Third Reich, several decades were needed to reestablish the “new public health” in Germany. The activity of scientists and politicians led to the funding of 5 big public health research consortia by the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology and the founding of the first school of public health in the German-speaking region of Europe at the University of Bielefeld in 1994. As chair of the university’s Department of Public Health Medicine, one of my first actions was to implement a health promotion program at the university with a major focus on smoking cessation. In the context of this project my coworkers and I faced severe opposition from faculty, the university administration, and particularly reviewers of public health research grants. These obstructions signaled that public health in Germany was not yet ready to fight smoking in higher educational settings. It took 10 years to make the Bielefeld university hall partially smoke-free. Our epidemiological studies on university students’ health resulted in numerous publications (e.g., Kramer et al.3) and the implementation of effective interventions for tobacco-related prevention in the university setting. The concept of “new public health” in Germany is characterized by the extension of the medical risk factor model to include psychosocial dimensions and a health promotional perspective. However, this innovative concept is doomed to failure if the fundamental biomedical mechanisms of health and disease determinants are unknown or ignored. I hope that the increased awareness of the tobacco industry’s manipulations will speed up the long-overdue passage of legislation requiring smoke-free kindergartens, schools, universities, hospitals, work environments, and restaurants in Germany.