Tax return of the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World exposes it as a front group for Philip Morris International
10 Takeaways from The Foundation for a Smoke-Free World’s 2019 Tax Return. May 18, 2020; https://exposetobacco.org/wp-content/uploads/FSFW_2019_Tax_Return.pdf
“The University of Bath’s Tobacco Control Research Group, a partner in STOP, analyzed FSFW’s 2019 tax return and highlighted the top 10 takeaways. Their analysis shows how, despite claims of independence, FSFW acts as the world’s biggest tobacco industry front group.”
See the full summary at the link above. Revealing items about FSFW research:
It funds its own self-promotion
“Despite the Foundation claiming it is a scientific organization supporting “medical, agricultural and scientific research,” almost one-third (31%, $24.52 million) of its $80 million budget went on salaries, PR, legal and other fees. Only around half of its budget ($41.09 million) was paid out as “grants and contributions.”
Grants go for PR or advocacy and to tobacco industry-friendly research centers
“Much of what the Foundation funds under “grants and contributions” is not scientific research, but PR or advocacy. Examples include: funding VIDA News to “increase public awareness of the drivers of smoking harm and the availability of alternatives”; the International Network of Nicotine Consumer Organisations (INNCO) to “promote tobacco harm reduction on the global stage”; and the Conrad Foundation to hold children’s science competitions.
Two of its largest research grantees have long histories of working with Philip Morris. They are: CoEHAR, the Foundation’s “Center of Excellence for the Acceleration of Harm Reduction,” founded by Riccardo Polosa and based at the University of Catania in Italy, and the Rose Research Center, founded by Jed Rose, the director of the Center for Nicotine and Smoking Cessation Research at Duke University, USA.”
It is important to realize that the FSFW is a front group for Philip Morris International, its sole source of funding.
Stephen Hamann
