 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Mi-Kyung Hong, MPH, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, University of California, San Francisco, 530 Parnassus Avenue, Suite 366, Box 1390, Library, San Francisco, CA 94143, 415-502-8203, mkhong@itsa.ucsf.edu and Lisa A. Bero, PhD, Institute for Health Policy Studies, Department of Clinical Pharmacy, and Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, University of California, San Francisco, 530 Parnassus Avenue, Suite 366, Box 1390, Library, San Francisco, CA 94143.
Background: Ties between the tobacco industry and scientific researchers have been revealed by the internal tobacco industry documents released as part of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement. Tobacco industry documents research has shown that the tobacco industry has sponsored scientific symposia publications and journal articles.
Objective: To investigate relationships between the tobacco industry and the scientific community, including research ties, industry-sponsored publications and industry involvement in the peer-review process.
Methods: Tobacco industry documents were retrieved and analyzed from the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library (http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu).
Results: During the late 1990’s the tobacco industry sponsored a book—“the nicotine monograph”—that examined the metabolism of nicotine. The production of this monograph involved industry recruitment of Elsevier Science to issue the monograph. Internal industry documents show extensive financial negotiations between Elsevier and the tobacco industry, the industry’s production and writing of the monograph, and the recruitment of academic scientists to ally with industry scientists as authors of the monograph. It appears that the monograph’s ultimate purpose was to use it in public forums to defend the industry position on the health effects of nicotine.
Conclusion: The case of the “nicotine monograph” depicts the breadth of tobacco industry influence over knowledge production. Although tobacco industry sponsorship of the monograph was disclosed, this disclosure did not reveal the full extent of the tobacco industry’s involvement in the book. This example of industry involvement within the scientific community raises questions regarding the ethical viability of accepting tobacco industry funding for scientific publication.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Tobacco Industry, Tobacco Control
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.