Tobacco Industry News

Reports

Criteria for evaluating tobacco control research funding programs and their application to models that include financial support from the tobacco industry
The tobacco industry has funded scientific research to gain credibility and advance the tobacco industry’s agenda, often at the cost of public health. There has been significant debate among researchers regarding the ethics, purpose, and outcomes related to tobacco industry funding of research. Proponents of accepting industry funding have argued that considering the scarcity of other funding sources, refusing any funding is not an option. With this in mind, several researchers collaborated to develop a list of eight criteria for evaluating funding models and created four diverse funding models to demonstrate applications of the criteria. Click here to access the full report in the journal Tobacco Control.

Cigarette prices rise three weeks ahead of 62-cent tax
Several weeks before the upcoming Federal cigarette tax increase, multiple tobacco companies have announced increases in their per-pack wholesale cigarette prices, leading to confusion among consumers about the cost of their cigarettes. Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds have both marked up popular cigarette brands, including Camel and Pall Mall. According to a representative from R.J. Reynolds, the price of the new Camel Snus smokeless tobacco will not change. Retail prices increased immediately following the price hike, but the ultimate effect on retailers’ pricing for the general public is still unknown since wholesale prices only directly affect wholesalers. While tobacco companies have acknowledged that the increased federal excise tax did influence the new pricing, the companies have not further communicated the rationale behind the decision. Click here to read more.

International

Tobacco industry interference with tobacco control
A new publication from the World Health Organization (WHO) describes tactics that the tobacco industry has used to discredit scientific research about tobacco use, to influence governments to create weak tobacco control policies, and to undermine WHO tobacco control initiatives. This report is the result of a meeting of tobacco industry monitoring experts convened by the WHO in 2007. The report can be used to assist with implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a commitment signed by 160 nations to counter tobacco industry involvement in tobacco control. Click here to access the report by the World Health Organization.

Pledge to stop law on plain cigarette packets (UK)
The UK’s largest tobacco company has indicated that it will take legal action if the government passes a law requiring companies to forego their branded cigarette packaging for plain white packs. Because research has shown that cigarette branding plays a significant role in promoting smoking, removing logos from cigarette packaging could decrease cigarette consumption. Now that there is a serious threat of parliament passing the law to eliminate logos from cigarette packaging, Imperial Tobacco wrote a letter to the UK Department of Health conveying the company’s concerns that the measure would not help educate smokers on the risks of smoking, and would take away tobacco companies’ intellectual property—their logos—which they have invested in for years. Click here to read more.

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