Research: Conflicts of interest with the tobacco industry under-declared

Researchers linked to the tobacco and nicotine industry do not sufficiently or not at all mention their potential conflicts of interest, including in work published in prestigious scientific journals. This is shown by a study published a few days ago in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health. According to the authors of this research, these failings, contrary to ethical principles, should lead journals to review their policies and consider implementing sanctions.

More than half of publications deemed problematic in terms of declaration of conflicts of interest

The authors of the study contacted tobacco control experts around the world, so that they could compile a list of tobacco and vaping researchers who they suspected might have conflicts of interest. Based on this, the authors of the study selected the ten most frequently cited researchers, and then consulted all of their scientific publications, their Linkedin and academic profiles, in order to verify their transparency with regard to possible conflicts of interest with regard to the tobacco and nicotine industry. Of the 553 scientific publications identified, more than half were characterized by an incomplete declaration, or a total absence of declaration of the existence of conflicts of interest, while these are proven.

The tobacco industry seeks to give credibility to its discourse

As the authors of this study point out, such practices of minimizing or concealing their conflicts of interest with the tobacco and nicotine industry are worrying, insofar as these articles can have authority and influence on public policies undertaken in this area. Under the cover of a scientific discourse, such approaches promote categorical interests, fundamentally opposed to those of public health. Given its rather degraded reputation with the general public and decision-makers, the mobilization of front groups and third parties is a recurring strategy of the tobacco industry, which thus seeks to give credibility to the arguments it disseminates.

Heated tobacco at the heart of cigarette manufacturers' alternative scientific discourse

In particular, the tobacco industry's infiltration of scientific discourse is a major issue today. Manufacturers, faced with a constant decline in their sales volumes, have in recent years initiated an aggressive strategy of reconquest. This is embodied in particular through the promotion of new tobacco products, such as heated tobacco, presented by cigarette manufacturers as a reduced-risk alternative for the consumer. While no independent study to date has confirmed that the consumption of heated tobacco results in a reduction in risks for the smoker, the tobacco industry is investing in scientific discourse aimed at promoting it as a credible, innovative and essential player in public health. This strategy has notably resulted in the establishment in 2017 of the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, presented as an "independent non-profit" scientific organization, fully funded by Philip Morris International.

FT