Philip Morris' Smoke-Free Foundation in Trouble

Stopping Tobacco Organizations and Products (STOP) takes stock of the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (FSFW) three years after its launch. The Foundation appears to be racking up setbacks and difficulties in concealing what it is: a front group designed to promote the interests of Philip Morris International (PMI).

Despite his official declarations of wanting to " Accelerate the end of smoking ", through a search " independent ", the Foundation has failed to position itself as a credible player on the issue. The reason is that Philip Morris remains its only financier today: in three years, the front group has not managed to find other donors.

A clear lack of scientific credibility

According to STOP, the Foundation lost all its legitimacy as a scientific organization in 2018, when researchers, analyzing its tax return, found that it had invested more in communication than in research. The Foundation for a Smoke-Free World is said to have spent 240 million euros in three years, coming solely from Philip Morris International. Since then, several organizations and institutes have decided to sever their ties, while some beneficiaries have rejected or reimbursed funding from the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (FSFW), such as the NGO BRAC Bangladesh, the University of Cape Town, or Telenor Health. In addition, research funded by the Foundation has often been led by researchers already linked to the tobacco company PMI. When links between the FSFW and the tobacco industry were discovered, research projects were abandoned by external collaborators.

Fewer and fewer allies

Many stakeholders are disassociating themselves from the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, jeopardizing Philip Morris’ strategy of infiltrating the research world through the promotion of a front group. As STOP notes, more and more schools of public health are publicly committing not to work with the FSFW. Internally, the situation is also not very bright: despite spending more than $850,000 on hiring in 2019, staffing levels have been cut by 40%, including in leadership positions.

Promoting the interests of Philip Morris

Health professionals point to the obvious conflict of interest between the Foundation and the tobacco industry. Indeed, much of the research emanating from the FSFW promotes new industry products such as heated tobacco, a new development area for Philip Morris. For these reasons, STOP invites "public decision-makers, researchers, and civil society to remain vigilant in the face of the Foundation's attempts to promote the interests of tobacco companies under the guise of public health."

Keywords: Front Group, Philip Morris

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