Derek Yach is with the World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. Stella Aguinaga Bialous is a public health policy consultant in San Francisco, Calif.
Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Derek Yach, MBChB, MPH, Executive Director, Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health, World Health Organization, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland (e-mail: yachd{at}who.int).
ABSTRACT
Despite the tobacco industry's claims that it has changed itspractices, the toll of tobacco-related disease and death continuesto grow worldwide, and the industry continues to use a vastarray of strategies to promote its products and increase profits.This commentary discusses the ways the tobacco industry hascreated controversy about risk assessment and about the scientificevidence of the health hazards of secondhand smoke.
The authors recommend that policymakers be more vigilant andthat they demand transparency about affiliations and linkagesbetween allegedly independent scientists and tobacco companies.They also urge policymakers to be prepared for new and continuingchallenges posed by the tobacco industry, because, despite theindustry's claims, there is little evidence of fundamental changein its objectives.
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