The tobacco company Philip Morris International has been accused of “manipulating science for profit” through funding research and advocacy work with scientists.
Campaigners say that leaked documents from PMI and its Japanese affiliate also reveal plans to target politicians, doctors and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as part of the multinational’s marketing strategy to attract non-smokers to its heated tobacco product, IQOS.
Japan is a launch market for IQOS, and Stopping Tobacco Organisations and Products (Stop), a tobacco industry watchdog, said it suspected PMI would apply the blueprint elsewhere.
A paper from researchers at the Tobacco Control Research Group at the University of Bath said that Philip Morris Japan (PMJ), funded a Kyoto University study into smoking cessation via a third-party research organisation.
The researchers said they could find no public record of PMJ’s involvement, although a PMI spokesperson said its involvement had been attributed when the results were presented at a scientific conference in Greece in 2021.
PMJ paid about £20,000 a month to FTI-Innovations, a life sciences consultancy run by a Tokyo University professor, for tasks such as promoting PMI’s science and products at academic events. In one internal email, a PMJ employee claimed they had been told “to keep it a secret”.
“These activities resemble known strategies to influence the conduct, publication and reach of science, and conceal scientific activities,” the researchers said.
Dr Sophie Braznell, one of its authors, said: “The manipulation of science for profit harms us all, especially policymakers and consumers trying to make potentially life-changing decisions. It slows down and undermines public health policies, while encouraging the widespread use of harmful products.”
Braznell said the leaked documents undermined claims made by PMI to conduct “transparent science”, and called for reforms to the funding and governance of tobacco research “to protect science from vested corporate interests”.
In a separate report on the company’s marketing activities, also based on leaked documents, Stop said PMJ appeared to lobby for IQOS to be permitted in places where smoking was banned.
Groups including medical and hospitality groups, and Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency were all targeted for endorsements, “which, if secured, could give the appearance of organic, widespread acceptance of IQOS”, Stop said.