Tobacco industry conflicts of interest cannot go undeclared in scientific publishing
Authors: Tess Legg, Anna B Gilmore
Journal: The Lancet (2024)

We wish to raise two issues about Derek Yach's Correspondence concerning the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.1Yach D WHO should embrace tobacco harm reduction to save lives.Lancet. 2024; 403: 1334-1335Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Google Scholar First, his lack of transparency and failure to comply with The Lancet rules on disclosing any potential or actual conflict of interest. Yach declares he "founded and led" the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (FSFW, which was renamed Global Action to End Smoking in May, 2024), but does not mention that the FSFW was established and fully funded by tobacco corporation Philip Morris International and has operated to promote its interests, including by misrepresenting evidence on its products and advocating for industry involvement in science and policy making.2Legg T Clift B Gilmore AB Document analysis of the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World's scientific outputs and activities: a case study in contemporary tobacco industry agnogenesis.Tob Control. 2023; (published online Feb 13.)https://doi.org/10.1136/tc-2022-057667Crossref Scopus (4) Google Scholar Yach did not disclose that he "provides consulting services to a range of clients, including those working on reduced risk nicotine products".3Yach D Scherer G Applications of biomarkers of exposure and biological effects in users of new generation tobacco and nicotine products: tentative proposals.Drug Test Anal. 2023; 15: 1127-1132Crossref Scopus (2) Google Scholar In short, he is highly conflicted given the topic of discussion. Second, consistent with this conflict, Yach's Correspondence is highly misleading. For example, as evidence that tobacco companies are "moving away from combustible cigarettes", he cites a flawed FSFW-funded report.4Tobacco Control Research GroupFoundation for a Smoke-Free World's Tobacco Transformation Index.https://tobaccotactics.org/wiki/fsfw-tti/Date: Dec 13, 2021Date accessed: May 22, 2024Google Scholar An independent assessment of this industry claim and its wider claim to have transformed—claims that Yach champions—found both to be highly questionable.5Edwards R Hoek J Karreman N Gilmore A Evaluating tobacco industry 'transformation': a proposed rubric and analysis.Tob Control. 2022; 31: 313-321Crossref PubMed Scopus (0) Google Scholar Yach's Correspondence illustrates the ease with which tobacco industry allies can contravene the disclosure rules academic journals established to help protect against industry efforts to shape the literature in its favour. The Correspondence also highlights the need for a far more robust approach to ensuring science functions in the public interest including, at a minimum, a public database of authors' financial links to ensure journals are not so easily misled. TL and ABG's time is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, as part of the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use. ABG's time is also supported by UK Research and Innovation funding for the Commercial Determinants of Health and Equity Consortium (grant number MR/Y030753/1), which is part of Population Health Improvement UK, a national research network which works to transform health and reduce inequalities through change at the population level. ABG has received a grant from SPECTRUM (UK Prevention Research Partnership); has received support for speaking at the Society for Research on Nicotine or Tobacco's annual meeting; has received travel funds to speak at events organised by El Poder del Consumidor and The Intersectoral Prevention Laboratory Centre for Clinical Research and Prevention; is an unpaid member of the Royal College of Physicians Tobacco Advisory Group, the Council of ASH, and the WHO International Expert Group on the Commercial Determinants of Health; and is an unpaid European Editor of Tobacco Control. No funders had a role in the investigation or writing of this Correspondence, nor in the decision to submit it for publication. WHO should embrace tobacco harm reduction to save livesKelley Lee and colleagues1 describe the hard-won progress of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). As someone who was in the room from the conception to the adoption of the FCTC,2 I offer insights that highlight how the convention has not adapted to scientific and technological advances and destined more users of toxic tobacco products to live shorter, less healthy lives. Full-Text PDF