Manufacturing Credibility: The National Energy Management Institute and the Tobacco Institute's Strategy for Indoor Air Quality.

• Autores: Richard B. Campbell, Edith D. Balbach
• Localización: American journal of public health, ISSN 0090-0036, Vol. 101, Nº. 3, 2011, págs. 497-503
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Objectives. We studied tobacco industry efforts during the 1980s and 1990s to promote the National Energy Management Institute (NEMI), a nonprofit organization, as an authority on indoor air quality as part of the industry's strategy to oppose smoke-free worksite policies. Methods. We analyzed tobacco industry documents, conducted literature searches in Lexis-Nexis for background and historical literature, and reviewed relevant public health and policy literature. Results. The tobacco industry provided more than US $6 million to NEMI to establish it as an authority on indoor air quality and to work with it to undermine support for smoke-free air policies by promoting ventilation as a solution to indoor air quality problems. Tobacco industry support for NEMI was not publicly disclosed. Conclusions. NEMI was a valuable ally for the tobacco industry through NEMI's ties to organized labor, its technical background, and its status as a third-party actor. NEMI also helped the industry to portray ventilation to improve overall indoor air quality and smoke-free worksites as an either-or choice; in fact, both can improve worker health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]