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Tobacco papers and tobacco industry ties in regulatory toxicology and pharmacology

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Abstract

We examined the relationship between the tobacco industry and the journal Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology (RTP) using the Truth Tobacco Industry Documents Library and internet sources. We determined the funding relationships, and categorised the conclusions of all 52 RTP papers on tobacco or nicotine between January 2013 and June 2015, as “positive”, “negative” or “neutral” for the tobacco industry. RTP’s editor, 57% (4/7) of associate editors and 37% (14/38) of editorial board members had worked or consulted for tobacco companies. Almost all (96%, 50/52) of the papers had authors with tobacco industry ties. Seventy-six percent (38/50) of these papers drew conclusions positive for industry; none drew negative conclusions. The two papers by authors not related to the tobacco industry reached conclusions negative to the industry (p < .001). These results call into question the confidence that members of the scientific community and tobacco product regulators worldwide can have in the conclusions of papers published in RTP.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by National Cancer Institute Grant CA-087472. The funding agency played no role in the conduct of the research or preparation of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, University of California San Francisco, 530 Parnassus, Suite 366, San Francisco, CA, 94143-1390, USA

    Clayton Velicer, Gideon St. Helen & Stanton A. Glantz

  2. Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Gideon St. Helen & Stanton A. Glantz

  3. Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Gideon St. Helen & Stanton A. Glantz

  4. Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Gideon St. Helen & Stanton A. Glantz

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  1. Clayton Velicer
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Correspondence to Stanton A. Glantz.

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Velicer, C., St. Helen, G. & Glantz, S.A. Tobacco papers and tobacco industry ties in regulatory toxicology and pharmacology . J Public Health Pol 39, 34–48 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41271-017-0096-6

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