Recently, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK) published a misguided attack on the integrity of the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (FSFW). FSFW wholly rejects its claims—claims that trivialize the needs of millions of smokers and seek to undermine FSFW’s mission to end smoking in this generation.
CTFK’s recent assault flies in the face of reason, fact, and appropriate ethical standards. First, CTFK attempts to invalidate any organization developing new tactics to fight the smoking epidemic. “There already is a global consensus on how to reduce cigarette use and smoking-related death and disease,” it asserts, along with the statement that, “New research underwritten by the tobacco industry is not needed – we know what really works.”
If this were the case, then why is it that tobacco use continues to plague the globe with over a billion tobacco users worldwide and over 7 million deaths annually? We can only assume that CTFK is well aware of these statistics, yet for whatever reason prefers to spend its valuable resources shooting down organizations that, like itself, are motivated to dramatically decrease the single largest cause of preventable death.
If we are to rapidly reduce tobacco-attributed deaths, more investment in cessation and harm reduction is required. Further, there is an urgent need to address the neglect of poor tobacco farmers who, due to declining smoking rates, increasingly will lose revenue and livelihoods. By supporting vital research, reports, and initiatives, FSFW has made substantial progress in tackling these issues.
Second, CTFK uses the names “Philip Morris international” (PMI) and “FSFW” interchangeably—a dishonest rhetorical barb that misleads the public about our foundation, its work, and its independence. FSFW operates exclusively for charitable, scientific, and educational purposes within the parameters of section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Accordingly, it supports scientific research free from the influence of any commercial entity that may be affected by its outcomes. We recently elaborated on this point in the Lancet and have provided data showing that grant support—not public relations, as CTFK has claimed—constitutes our primary budget item.
Third, CTFK actively calls on public health professionals to boycott and shun FSFW—actions that not only are inconsistent with goals we share with CTFK, but also with the ethical standards to which we all should hold ourselves. Worse, this call to exclude FSFW could see valuable and vital research remain unfunded and, perhaps, lost.
Instead of attacking FSFW, we urge CTFK and other like-minded organizations to join us in our quest to fill the many gaps that exist in global tobacco control. These include: smoking cessation and harm reduction; smoking use among people with mental health conditions, tuberculosis, and chronic diseases; tobacco use in women and girls; gaps in science and technology in developing countries; and the development of alternative livelihoods for the poorest tobacco farmers.
We are not the enemy—smoking is!
