A new foundation funded by Philip Morris International (PMI) has the stated aim of creating a smoke-free world. But two experts from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Heath are skeptical of the foundation’s efforts.
In a June 18, 2018 Viewpoint article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Howard Koh, Harvey V. Fineberg Professor of the Practice of Public Health Leadership, and Alan Geller, senior lecturer on social and behavioral sciences, noted that opponents of the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World “question whether PMI can truly lead meaningful change, given its long history of marketing and promoting products that cause death for half of its long-term users.” Numerous international and U.S. organizations, including Harvard Chan School and 16 other schools of public health, say they won’t accept funding from the foundation.
Unless PMI takes major steps to fulfill the foundation’s vision—such as setting a target date to cease production of cigarettes and terminating marketing and advertising, especially to kids and other vulnerable populations—the foundation “only diverts attention from evidence-based global tobacco control efforts that are needed now more than ever,” the authors wrote.
Read the JAMA article: The Philip Morris International-Funded Foundation for a Smoke-Free World
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Public health deans oppose funding from industry-sponsored anti-smoking group (Harvard Chan School news)