Inventing conflicts of interest: A history of Tobacco industry tactics

A.M. Brandt

American Journal of Public Health, 2012, vol. 102, issue 1, 63-71

Abstract: Confronted by compelling peer-reviewed scientific evidence of the harms of smoking, the tobacco industry, beginning in the 1950s, used sophisticated public relations approachestoundermineand distort the emerging science. The industry campaign worked to create a scientific controversy through a program that depended on the creationofindustry-academic conflicts of interest. This strategy of producing scientific uncertainty undercut public health efforts and regulatory interventions designed to reduce the harmsof smoking. A number of industries have subsequently followed this approach to disrupting normativescience.Claimsof scientific uncertainty and lack of proof also lead to the assertion of individual responsibilityforindustrially produced health risks.

Date: 2012
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2011.300292_8

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2011.300292

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