SPONSORED SYMPOSIA ON ENVIRONMENTAL TOBACCO-SMOKE

Objective.-To test the hypothesis that symposia on environmental tobac co smoke (ETS) are more likely to present unbalanced data and be autho red by tobacco industry-affiliated individuals than journal articles o n ETS. To compare the publication records and affiliations of authors of symposia with the authors of scientific consensus documents on ETS. Design.-Content analysis of articles; computerized literature searche s of English-language publications (except for one symposium) suppleme nted with additional sources. Participants (Articles).-All 297 symposi um articles on ETS and a random sample of 100 journal articles on ETS published between January 1, 1965, and March 31, 1993; the 1986 Surgeo n General's report on ETS; and the 1986 National Research Council's re port on ETS. Main Outcome Measures.-For each article, regardless of wh ether it had a methods section, agreement with the tobacco industry po sition that ETS is not harmful; topic; funding source(s); affiliation( s) of author; and publication records of authors. Results.-Of the symp osium articles 41% were reviews, compared with 10% of journal articles . A total of 83% of original symposium articles and 100% of journal ar ticles contained methods sections (P=.0001). Symposium articles were m ore likely to agree with the tobacco industry position (46% vs 20%), l ess likely to assess the health effects of ETS (22% vs 49%), less like ly to disclose their source of funding (22% vs 60%), and more likely t o be written by tobacco industry-affiliated authors (35% vs 6%) than j ournal articles (P=.0001). Symposium authors published a lower proport ion of peer-reviewed articles (71% vs 81%) (P=.0001) and were more lik ely to be affiliated with the tobacco industry (50% vs O%) than consen sus document authors (P=.0004). Conclusions.-Symposium articles on ETS differ from journal articles and consensus documents in ways that sug gest that symposia are not balanced.