PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, SOCIAL Justice and the Tobacco Industry

Background and issues: The tobacco industry has been identified as the “vector” of the tobacco epidemic. While nurses are aware of the harmful effects of tobacco use and the industry's targeted marketing of deadly products to marginalized groups, they may be unaware of the multiple ways in which tobacco companies have aggressively sought to disrupt, undermine, and weaken public health and tobacco control initiatives from the local to the international levels. Educating nurses, nursing organizations and the public about the tobacco industry's deceptive activities and their social justice implications can encourage support for tobacco control policies and motivate increased nursing involvement in tobacco control. Description: Drawing on multiple studies of internal tobacco company documents and secondary data sources, this presentation will review the multiple ways in which tobacco companies interfere with effective public health policies. The development of the Nightingales Nurses, a group focused on highlighting the industry's role in this global disease pandemic, and the social justice implications of tobacco control will be discussed. Lessons learned: Knowledge about the tobacco industry's unethical activities can be used to motivate nurses' increased involvement in tobacco control advocacy. Nursing's voice remains underrepresented in tobacco control given its numbers, but nurses can be effective tobacco control leaders. Recommendations: Every nursing organization should develop strong policies a) against acceptance of funding or support from tobacco companies; b) requiring major gatherings to be held in smokefree venues and cities; c) promoting collaboration with multidisciplinary tobacco control groups and encouraging nurse involvement in tobacco control advocacy.