Tobacco industry efforts to present ventilation as an alternative to smoke-free environments in North America

Abstract

Objective:To describe how the tobacco industry developed a network of consultants to promote ventilation as a “solution” to secondhand smoke (SHS) in the USA.Methods:Analysis of previously secret tobacco industry documents.Results:As with its other strategies to undermine the passage of clean indoor legislation and regulations, the tobacco industry used consultants who represented themselves as independent but who were promoting the industry’s ventilation “solution” strategies under close, but generally undisclosed, industry supervision. The nature of the industry’s use of ventilation consultants evolved over time. In the 1980s, the industry used them in an effort to steer the concerns about indoor air quality away from secondhand smoke, saying SHS was an insignificant component of a much larger problem of indoor air quality and inadequate ventilation. By the 1990s, the industry and its consultants were maintaining that adequate ventilation could easily accommodate “moderate smoking”. The consultants carried the ventilation message to businesses, particularly the hospitality business, and to local and national and international regulatory and legislative bodies.Conclusion:While the tobacco industry and its consultants have gone to considerable lengths to promote the tobacco industry’s ventilation “solution”, this strategy has had limited success in the USA, probably because, in the end, it is simpler, cheaper, and healthier to end smoking. Tobacco control advocates need to continue to educate policymakers about this fact, particularly in regions where this strategy has been more effective.

Tobacco industry sociological programs to influence public beliefs about smoking

“…Like Smoking and Society, Clearing the Air was a compilation of articles, some from the same authors as Smoking and Society (Peter Berger and James Buchanan), as well as other authors who had tobacco industry ties, including Gray Robertson (Drope, Bialous, & Glantz, 2004), and Burt Neuborne (Shook Hardy & Bacon, 1991). Clearing the Air plainly says that it articulates the views of the tobacco industry, stating in the preface that the industry's views "are shouted down by antitobacco hotheads who have long since (if they ever had) any desire to debate the issues" (Tollison, 1988).…”

A tobacco industry study of airline cabin air quality: dropping inconvenient findings

“…27 IFAQ studies were to provide a means for spreading the industry's message that secondhand smoke was an insignificant factor in air quality onboard aircraft. 19 Tobacco industry funded IFAQ studies, like those funded by governments and non-governmental organisations, clearly showed that secondhand smoke polluted aircraft in which smoking was permitted. 85 Four industry funded studies (including the SAS study) yielded similar concentrations of contaminants as did government and airline sponsored studies but offered different conclusions.…”

Mechanical Systems Versus Smoking Bans for Secondhand Smoke Control

“…Tobacco companies have frequently proposed air extraction and ventilation systems as adequate approaches to reduce or control SHS (Drope et al, 2004), despite repeated warnings by WHO regarding the ineffectiveness of such devices to eliminate SHS-associated health risks (WHO, 2007). We found the relative contribution of ventilation and air extraction systems to SHS reduction to be negligible compared with reductions attained from smoking bans.…”

“…While a vast body of literature has been dedicated to discussing mechanical systems versus smoking bans (AkbarKhanzadeh, 2003;Cenko, Pisaniello, & Esterman, 2004;Dearlove, Bialous, & Glantz, 2002;Drope et al, 2004;Samet et al, 2005;WHO, 2008), no systematic attempt has been conducted to quantify the effectiveness of each approach under nonexperimental conditions. In February 2008, a total smoking ban in all public places, including restaurants and bars, was enforced in Mexico City (Gaceta Oficial del Distrito Federal, 2008).…”