Leading Australian researchers have stated they will not accept any funding or support from the tobacco industry funded Foundation for a Smoke-Free World.
This follows similar statements from Australian and international public health institutions, including the World Health Organisation.
The Foundation is funded by tobacco giant Philip Morris International.
In an Editorial in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, Professor David Thomas the Head of Wellbeing and Preventable Chronic Diseases Division at Menzies School of Health Research says the tobacco industry continues to promote and market cigarettes and to actively undermine and oppose evidence-based policies to reduce smoking.
“We are not convinced that the Foundation is independent of the tobacco industry. Its current activities are consistent with the tobacco industry’s commercial interests, not concerns for public health,” writes Professor Thomas.
All of the organisations employing the authors of the Editorial (see below) have policies against accepting tobacco industry funding.