Originally published January 9 2006
Philip Morris denies claims of cover-up in the Lancet
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The respected medical journal The Lancet has recently published an article that claimed the tobacco industry suppressed evidence of passive smoking's harmful effects, but Philip Morris claims the article's view suffers from distortion.
A paper in the Lancet alleges Philip Morris hid investigations and declined to publish evidence on the risks.
Professor Martin McKee from the UK's London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and colleagues Pascal Diethelm and Jean-Charles Rielle from Switzerland examined documents which were made public after a 1998 legal settlement in the US.
Following their investigation, the researchers say Phillip Morris used the research facility to carry out studies into the health effects of tobacco smoke from the early 1970s onwards.
Professor McKee and colleagues accuse the scientists involved in the research of being selective in their publication of results.
However, John Wunderli from Philip Morris said: "The allegations that are made in this article are highly distorted and ones that we have seen for years in our litigation here in the US."
He added: "Importantly, also, the purpose for the article seems to be at the end that the public should be aware of the health effects of second hand smoke, environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), on issues about involving further restrictions on smoking."
He said Philip Morris agreed with that point, but deferred to the public health authorities on the issue of whether environmental tobacco smoke caused disease.
Mr Wunderli added: "Although we disagree with the allegations that are made [in the Lancet] - they are false, inaccurate and highly misleading - we don't disagree with the underlying conclusion.
Professor McKie and his colleagues say: "The scientists involved appear to have published only a small amount of their research and what was published appears to differ considerably from what was not.
"In particular, the unpublished reports provided evidence that second-hand smoke is even more harmful than mainstream smoke, a finding of particular relevance given the industry's continuing denial of the harmful effects of passive smoking.
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