Do Changes at the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World Go Far Enough?

With recent changes in the structure of the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, IGTC Director Joanna Cohen and two colleagues authored a special communication in Tobacco Control to revisit criteria to assess funding models for independence from tobacco industry support. 

Cohen has played a key role in this effort, co-authoring the criteria in a 2009 article and speaking out in 2017 after the establishment of the FSFW. The new publication, authored with Thomas Eissenberg and Mitch Zeller, explains all eight criteria in order to help the tobacco control community understand how they apply to the current structure of the FSFW.   

The paper acknowledges that some changes show "potential signs of progress," but the lack of detailed information on many areas of governance and decision-making related to the criteria makes it impossible to properly assess FSFW's independence.