Print(0)

Journal Article

Pediatrics

Pediatrics

Mar

115

3

e356

66

LR: 20071115; GR: 1-T32-HP-19025/PHS HHS/United States; GR: CA-87472/CA/NCI NIH HHS/United States; JID: 0376422; 0 (Tobacco Smoke Pollution); OID: KIE: 128807; OID: NRCBL: VF 1.3.9; OTO: KIE; GN: KIE: 78 refs.; GN: KIE: KIE Bib: biomedical research; fraud

United States

1098-4275; 0031-4005

PMID: 15741361

eng

Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.; AIM; E; IM

115/3/e356 [pii]

Unknown(0)

15741361

BACKGROUND: Prenatal and postnatal exposure to tobacco smoke adversely affects maternal and child health. Secondhand smoke (SHS) has been linked causally with sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in major health reports. In 1992, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) first noted an association between SHS and SIDS, and both prenatal exposure and postnatal SHS exposure were listed as independent risk factors for SIDS in a 1997 California EPA report (republished in 1999 by the National Cancer Institute) and a 2004 US Surgeon General report. The tobacco industry has used scientific consultants to attack the evidence that SHS causes disease, most often lung cancer. Little is known about the industry's strategies to contest the evidence on maternal and child health. In 2001, a review was published on SIDS that acknowledged funding from the Philip Morris (PM) tobacco company. Tobacco industry documents related to this review were examined to identify the company's influence on the content and conclusions of this review. METHODS: Tobacco industry documents include 40 million pages of internal memos and reports made available to the public as a result of litigation settlements against the tobacco industry in the United States. Between November 2003 and January 2004, we searched tobacco industry document Internet sites from the University of California Legacy Tobacco Documents Library and the Tobacco Documents Online website. Key terms included "SIDS" and names of key persons. Two authors conducted independent searches with similar key terms, reviewed the documents, and agreed on relevancy through consensus. Thirty documents were identified as relevant. Two drafts (an early version and a final version) of an industry-funded review article on SIDS were identified, and 2 authors independently compared these drafts with the final publication. Formal comments by PM executives made in response to the first draft were also reviewed. We used Science Citation Index in July 2004 to determine citation patterns for the referenced SIDS reviews. RESULTS: PM executives feared that SHS and maternal and child health issues would create a powerful and emotional impetus for smoke-free areas in the home, public areas, and the workplace. In response to the 1992 US EPA report on SHS, the Science and Technology Department of PM's Switzerland subsidiary, Fabriques de Tabac Reunies, searched for "independent" consultants to publish articles addressing SHS. The first industry-funded article was a literature review focusing on smoking and SIDS, conducted by consultant Peter Lee and co-author Allison Thornton, which stated that the association between parental smoking and SIDS could have been attributable to the failure to control fully for confounders. That first review has only been cited once, in the subsequent industry-funded review. In 1997, PM commissioned a consultant, Frank Sullivan, to write a review, with coauthor Susan Barlow, of all possible risk factors for SIDS. The first draft concluded that prenatal and postnatal smoking exposures are both independent risk factors for SIDS. After receiving comments and meeting with PM scientific executives, Sullivan changed his original conclusions on smoking and SIDS. The final draft was changed to emphasize the effects of prenatal maternal smoking and to conclude that postnatal SHS effects were "less well established." Changes in the draft to support this new conclusion included descriptions of Peter Lee's industry-funded review, a 1999 negative but underpowered study of SIDS risk and urinary cotinine levels, and criticisms of the conclusions of the National Cancer Institute report that SHS was causally associated with SIDS. In April 2001, the Sullivan review was published in the United Kingdom journal Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, with a disclosure statement that acknowledged financial support from PM but did not acknowledge contributions from PM exe

Causality, Conflict of Interest, Humans, Infant, Research Support as Topic, Review Literature as Topic, Risk Factors, Scientific Misconduct, Sudden Infant Death/etiology, Tobacco Industry/economics/ethics/legislation & jurisprudence, Tobacco Smoke Pollution/adverse effects, Toxicology/ethics, United States, Biomedical and Behavioral Research, Empirical Approach

Tong,E. K., England,L., Glantz,S. A.