Research commissioned by the tobacco conglomerate Philip Morris found that cot death was linked to passive smoking, fuelling the debate on banning smoking in public places as the dangers of "second-hand smoke" become increasingly irrefutable.
The draft report was later modified to say that the links were "difficult to quantify," raising concerns that the tobacco firm sought to influence the findings of the study.
The link between cot death and babies who live in homes where adults smoke has been strengthening over the past decade. This year, a report by the government's scientific committee on tobacco and health said children exposed to cigarette smoke are at "greater risk" of cot death.
The disclosure that the world's largest tobacco firm commissioned research that originally came to this same conclusion will fuel the debate on banning smoking in public places.
The original drafts of the study emerged after researchers from the University of California trawled through thousands of confidential company documents released as a result of lawsuits in the US. Their findings have just been published in the journal Pediatrics.
The report was written by the British toxicology consultant Dr. Frank Sullivan. When his first draft concluded that passive smoking was a possible cause of cot death, or sudden infant death syndrome, company scientists persuaded him to change his mind, supplying him with evidence to suggest that the links were "unproven."
As a result of interventions by Philip Morris -- which makes Marlboro cigarettes -- Sullivan agreed to modify his findings. His final study was published in 2001 in an influential scientific journal without revealing the full role played by the tobacco giant in his report.
The authors claim that the once-secret company documents reveal how the Sullivan study was part of an elaborate attempt by the firm to sway public policy about smoking around children.
In the early 1990s, Philip Morris was trying to counter the view that tobacco smoke could cause cot death. Tobacco bosses feared that such evidence would create a powerful argument for smoke-free areas in the home and public places.
Stan Glantz, professor of medicine at the University of California, claims their investigation reveals the extreme efforts adopted by the tobacco industry to influence public policy. He said: "Their aim was to use this study to subtly manipulate public opinion. By [using] the scientific literature, they can create doubt and confusion among doctors and health officials over the debate about smoking around children."
In 1997, Philip Morris commissioned Sullivan to write a review of all the known risk factors of sudden infant death syndrome. Sullivan was an expert on birth deformities and had advised the British government on the impact of chemicals on human reproduction. There is no suggestion that he was knowingly part of any plan improperly to shift public policy.
For Philip Morris, he was an ideal candidate because he had also been a consultant to the cigarette firm Rothmans and had taken part in tobacco-funded research that had questioned the role played by second-hand smoke in damaging health. A company memo describes him as having "excellent credentials."
Sullivan's consulting fees from Philip Morris were ?800 (US$1500) a day and the company budgeted between US$47,000 and US$94,000 for his study. The contract stated that Sullivan would remain free to publish the final version without restriction by Philip Morris.
Sullivan's original draft concluded that not only does a mother smoking during pregnancy increase the risk of cot death, but so also does exposing a newborn baby to passive smoking. He said: "The evidence overall suggests that both pre-natal and post-natal maternal smoking exert independent effects."
Philip Morris executives were unhappy at this statement and urged Sullivan to make changes that incorporated their detailed comments.
Sullivan's final draft included several amendments suggested by company scientists which played down the role of smoking and particularly the role of second-hand smoke in causing cot death.
At the suggestion of Philip Morris, Sullivan added two paragraphs about a 1999 Tasmanian study of cot death that found no conclusive link between second-hand smoke and cot death. A company scientist told Sullivan: "I think that this paper is extremely important and I also think that, if at all possible, it ought to be included in your review."
After Philip Morris's interventions, Sullivan agreed to change his original conclusion that passive smoking is an independent risk factor for cot death. He argued that, although smoking during pregnancy increased the risk of it happening, the threat of passive smoking was "less well-established."
His final article, which was published in the Journal of Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology in 2001, stated the relationship was "difficult to quantify."
James Watson — the Nobel laureate co-credited with the pivotal discovery of DNA’s double-helix structure, but whose career was later tainted by his repeated racist remarks — has died, his former lab said on Friday. He was 97. The eminent biologist died on Thursday in hospice care on Long Island in New York, announced the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he was based for much of his career. Watson became among the 20th century’s most storied scientists for his 1953 breakthrough discovery of the double helix with researcher partner Francis Crick. Along with Crick and Maurice Wilkins, he shared the
China’s Shenzhou-20 crewed spacecraft has delayed its return mission to Earth after the vessel was possibly hit by tiny bits of space debris, the country’s human spaceflight agency said yesterday, an unusual situation that could disrupt the operation of the country’s space station Tiangong. An impact analysis and risk assessment are underway, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said in a statement, without providing a new schedule for the return mission, which was originally set to land in northern China yesterday. The delay highlights the danger to space travel posed by increasing amounts of debris, such as discarded launch vehicles or vessel
RUBBER STAMP? The latest legislative session was the most productive in the number of bills passed, but critics attributed it to a lack of dissenting voices On their last day at work, Hong Kong’s lawmakers — the first batch chosen under Beijing’s mantra of “patriots administering Hong Kong” — posed for group pictures, celebrating a job well done after four years of opposition-free politics. However, despite their smiles, about one-third of the Legislative Council will not seek another term in next month’s election, with the self-described non-establishment figure Tik Chi-yuen (狄志遠) being among those bowing out. “It used to be that [the legislature] had the benefit of free expression... Now it is more uniform. There are multiple voices, but they are not diverse enough,” Tik said, comparing it
TOWERING FIGURE: To Republicans she was emblematic of the excesses of the liberal elite, but lawmakers admired her ability to corral her caucus through difficult votes Nancy Pelosi, a towering figure in US politics, a leading foe of US President Donald Trump and the first woman to serve as US House of Representatives speaker, on Thursday announced that she would step down at the next election. Admired as a master strategist with a no-nonsense leadership style that delivered for her party, the 85-year-old Democrat shepherded historic legislation through the US Congress as she navigated a bitter partisan divide. In later years, she was a fierce adversary of Trump, twice leading his impeachment and stunning Washington in 2020 when she ripped up a copy of his speech to the
RSS