Tobacco giant influenced research to minimize apparent secondhand smoke risks, says study

• University of California researchers say studies that denied links between tobacco smoke and infant death was heavily influenced by tobacco companies.
• Scientists at the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at University of California San Francisco and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said the studies were paid for by cigarette manufacturers who also altered conclusions.Their findings appear in the March issue of the journal Pediatrics.
• The researchers said one prominent article, commissioned by Philip Morris and published in a respected pediatric epidemiology journal in 2001, discounted the significance of research showing a link between exposure to secondhand cigarette smoke and sudden infant death syndrome.The article has been cited in at least 19 other scientific papers, misleading physicians, their patients and researchers about the risk of secondhand smoke exposure, the scientists said.Philip Morris documents revealed the company paid an author to write the article, guided his writing, and suggested changes in his conclusions, the researchers said.
• "Undermining people's understanding of the link between secondhand smoke and SIDS places infants everywhere at increased risk," said lead author Stanton Glantz, director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education.