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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Elisa Tong, MD, Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, Box 1390, 530 Parnassus Ave, Suite 366, San Francisco, CA 94404-1390, 415-719-0136, elisa.tong@ucsf.edu and Stanton A. Glantz, PhD, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, University of California, San Francisco, Suite 366 Library 530 Parnassus Ave, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143-1390.

Background: Cardiovascular disease is the primary cause of death due to secondhand smoke, accounting for 35,000 to 69,600 non-smoker deaths a year. The tobacco industry has used scientific consultants to attack the evidence that secondhand smoke causes disease, most often with lung cancer. Our objective was to evaluate how the tobacco industry has targeted the scientific evidence on secondhand smoke and cardiovascular disease.

Methods: Tobacco industry documents include 40 million pages of internal memos and reports made available to the public as a result of litigation settlements against the tobacco industry in the United States. We searched the internet site from the University of California Legacy Tobacco Documents Library. Key terms included “cardiovascular,” “heart,” “coronary,” “ETS,” and names of key persons.

Results: We found that tobacco industry scientific consultants have published, from 1995-2006, literature concluding that secondhand smoke does not cause significant cardiovascular disease. The epidemiologic publications include analyses of data and reviews of literature that reach different conclusions from similar studies. More recent efforts include personal monitoring studies to suggest that real world exposure levels are minimal, and plans to examine the effects of acute secondhand smoke exposure on cardiac parameters in humans.

Conclusion: The tobacco industry has used scientific consultants to attack the epidemiologic evidence and develop exposure literature to support their position that secondhand smoke does not cause cardiovascular disease. Public health advocates need to recognize that these tobacco industry activities are ongoing and expanding.

Learning Objectives:

• 1) Understand the scientific basis for secondhand smoke causing cardiovascular disease
• 2) Learn how the tobacco industry has used scientific consultants to argue that secondhand smoke does not cause cardiovascular disease
• 3) Identify types of tobacco industry-funded studies and arguments that were developed to support the industry’s position

Keywords: Tobacco Industry, Cardiorespiratory

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered