‘The industry must be inconspicuous’: Japan Tobacco’s corruption of science and health policy via the Smoking Research Foundation

• Published in: Tobacco control Vol. 27; no. e1; pp. e3 - e11
• Main Authors: Iida, Kaori, Proctor, Robert N
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BMJ Publishing Group LTD 01.07.2018; BMJ Publishing Group
• Subjects: Advisory committees; Cancer; Cancer research; Cigarettes; Corruption; Councils; Health policy; Litigation; Medical research; Privatization; Research Paper; Researchers; Smoking; Studies; Tobacco; Tobacco industry; Tobacco smoke; Japan; tobacco industry documents; litigation; secondhand smoke; globalisation
• ISSN: 0964-4563; 1468-3318
• DOI: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2017-053971

ObjectiveTo investigate how and why Japan Tobacco, Inc. (JT) in 1986 established the Smoking Research Foundation (SRF), a research-funding institution, and to explore the extent to which SRF has influenced science and health policy in Japan.MethodsWe analysed documents in the Truth Tobacco Industry Documents archive, along with recent Japanese litigation documents and published documents.ResultsJT’s effort to combat effective tobacco control was strengthened in the mid-1980s, following privatisation of the company. While remaining under the protection of Japan’s Ministry of Finance, the semiprivatised company lost its ‘access to politicos’, opening up a perceived need for collaboration with global cigarette makers. One solution, arrived at through clandestine planning with American companies, was to establish a third-party organisation, SRF, with the hope of capturing scientific and medical authority for the industry. Guarded by powerful people in government and academia, SRF was launched with the covert goal of influencing tobacco policy both inside and outside Japan. Scholars funded by SRF have participated in international conferences, national advisory committees and tobacco litigation, in most instances helping the industry to maintain a favourable climate for the continued sale of cigarettes.ConclusionsContrary to industry claims, SRF was never meant to be independent or neutral. With active support from foreign cigarette manufacturers, SRF represents the expansion into Asia of the denialist campaign that began in the USA in 1953.