The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has said funding of smoking harm research by the world’s largest cigarette company Philip Morris International (PMI) reflects Big Tobacco pivoting its model to gain a new generation of users.
PMI is the world’s biggest tobacco company and has a strong interest in the rapidly growing nicotine vaping market. It also appears to be the sole funder of the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (FSFW), which states its mission “is to end smoking in this generation”.
The FSFW’s financial statements show it received contributions of $US80 million in 2019, $US45 million in 2020 and $US40 million in 2021, all from PMI Global Services. These contributions are the vast majority of FSFW’s income of $US166.2 million from 2019-21, with $US1,241,691 in investment income rounding out the total.
Research funded by FSFW was uncovered last week, with national research bodies “repudiating” the foundation.
RACGP President Nicole Higgins has previously called for a crackdown on nicotine vaping products, many of which are marketed to young people and designed to sidestep Australian regulations with false labelling. She said she was not surprised to see the nicotine giant funding research.
“The Foundation for a Smoke-Free World is nothing more than a fig leaf for Philip Morris’ real business – nicotine addiction,” Dr Higgins said.
“A smoke-free world is a fine ambition, but this is just cynical. The research funded by Philip Morris through the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World shows smoking has many harmful effects – but we have known this for decades.
“Researchers should be careful about accepting funding from the foundation, lest their work become a smoke-screen for Philip Morris’ pivot to vaping products. If the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World isn’t asking if vaping is safe – not safer than smoking, but safe as a practice – it’s not meeting its values of integrity or transparency.
“Helping people live without nicotine should be the priority for any research by any organisation or funder. The RACGP supports nicotine vaping under the supervision and prescription of a GP who can help a patient beat their dependence, saving them money, reducing harm, and supporting them to take back control from nicotine.
“But Big Nicotine doesn’t want users to have that power. The industry is already lobbying for unrestricted sale of vaping products in Australia, and research by this foundation is almost certainly a key part of that lobbying. Opening the door to Big Nicotine will accelerate what we’re already seeing – a new generation of young users, many who have not been cigarette users before they started vaping, then struggling to stop. But that’s the marketing strategy, isn’t it?
“Phillip Morris and other cigarette companies fought Australia’s efforts to kick smoking at every stage, using every piece of research that was convenient to them.
“This is just a continuation of Big Nicotine’s fight against public health.”