Eight US anti-smoking organizations that have called for electronic cigarettes to be removed from the market between them received $2.8 million from Pfizer alone during 2011 and the first half of this year, according to Professor Michael Siegel, of Boston University’s School of Public Health, quoting the drug maker’s financial contribution reports.
And these organizations, which insisted that smokers use drug therapy to quit smoking, had repeatedly failed to disclose their financial interests in Big Pharma, which stood to lose enormously if electronic cigarettes became increasingly popular.
When the anti-smoking groups submitted an amicus brief urging the DC District Court to allow the Food and Drug Administration to ban electronic cigarettes, they did not disclose their financial ties to pharmaceutical companies, Siegel said.
And the groups had not disclosed their financial conflicts of interest in public statements or on websites opposing electronic cigarette use.
The anti-smoking groups are: the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Medical Association, the American Legacy Foundation, and Action on Smoking and Health.
Siegel’s comments, which are at tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.com, were relayed by the TMA.