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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Robbin Derry, PhD, MBA, Kellogg School, Ford Center for Global Citizenship, Northwestern University, MORS Department, 2001 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60201, 847-491-4976, r-derry@northwestern.edu

The historical relationship between public health and the tobacco industry is fraught with conflict, intense animosity, and nearly complete mutual distrust. This distrust has shaped public health policy as well as tobacco industry strategies since the early 1950s, when scientific research began to confirm the adverse impact of smoking on health. Industry documents will be used in this presentation to demonstrate the strategies used by the industry to “gird for battle” with their adversaries. Recent theory development in trust suggests that there is an optimal level of trust, and that acceptance of distrust may facilitate a concurrent acceptance of a higher level of trust in conflictual relationships. I apply these models to the contemporary stand-off between the tobacco industry and its most challenging and skeptical stakeholder, the public health activists. In doing so, I propose a way in which tobacco control researchers and the tobacco companies might progress beyond their impass, to the potential benefit of the public.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant will be able to

• Describe the strategies used by the tobacco industry to foster distrust of tobacco control research.
• Recognize the impact of continuing distrust between the tobacco industry and public health, including the positive and negative results.
• Evaluate the potential for moving beyond the stasis of low trust and high distrust in this particular industry - activist stakeholder relationship.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation