Tim McAfee & John Baker The Foundation for a Smoke Free World (FSFW), wholly funded by Philip Morris International (PMI), is attempting to recruit physicians from 12 countries to serve on its “Doctors and Health Professionals Global Poll 2021 National Advisory Board” (NAB). The NAB is characterized as an 8-month “study” beginning in June 2021 […]
Category: Philip Morris International
Who should we trust on science diplomacy and COVID-19 recovery? Not Big Tobacco
Alice Fabbri, Louis Laurence, Mateusz Zatoński, Anna B Gilmore On April 20th the magazine Foreign Policy will hold a Virtual Dialogue on “Science Diplomacy”. The event will focus on “elevating the role of science in addressing global challenges” including recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the event’s aims is to “energize international cooperation on […]
Philip Morris and the Government of Canada collaborate on COVID-19 vaccine development
Joanna Cohen and Simon Chapman Does the control of one pandemic justify the promotion of another? The news of a new COVID-19 vaccine collaboration between Philip Morris International and the Government of Canada has set off alarm bells in the tobacco control community. The vaccine developer at the middle of the controversy—Quebec-based Medicago Inc.—is owned […]
Foundation for a Smoke Free World is not complementary to public health efforts – it’s undermining them
Heather Lusardi, Anna Gilmore, Ulysses Dorotheo The Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (FSFW), established with almost US $1 billion from Philip Morris International, is essentially operating as a front group for Philip Morris International’s (PMI) interests. Unsurprisingly, therefore, overtures to the public health community have been repeatedly, firmly and publicly rejected: WHO has made clear […]
World: PMI in global motorsport smoke-free PR spin
John Baker Mission Winnow (MW) is a PMI campaign claiming to focus on “…innovation and technology to expedite change” through sponsorship of the Ferrari Formula One (F1) team, the Pramac MotoE team and the Ducati MotoGP team. Ducati launched its 2019 bikes at PMI’s Cube building, with PMI’s Miroslaw Zielinski and the MW logo designer, […]
World: PMI-funded Foundation for a Smoke-Free World adding insult to injury
Jennifer Fang and Kelley Lee Despite 7 million deaths annually and counting, tobacco control worldwide continues to be seriously underfunded as a public health priority. This funding gap is especially acute in low-income countries and among certain historically disadvantaged populations. It is into this space that the Philip Morris International (PMI) financed Foundation for a […]
Euromonitor International now accepts tobacco industry funding: a win for PMI at the expense of research on the tobacco industry
Allen W A Gallagher and Anna B Gilmore On the 18th and 19th March 2019, respectively, the market research organisation Euromonitor International, which describes itself as “the world’s leading independent provider of strategic market research”, became the recipient of funding from not one, but two initiatives solely-funded by Philip Morris International (PMI)- the Foundation […]