ABSTRACT
The main source of opposition to the tobacco control movement is economic interests who benefit from the agricultural production of tobacco and manufacture and sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products. First and foremost among these interests are a small number of cigarette manufacturers responsible for the vast majority of cigarettes sold and consumed in the United States and their trade associations. The tobacco industry has used its prodigious resources to mount "intellectual opposition" to the efforts of tobacco control advocates to reduce levels of tobacco use in the United States. The industry has mounted two forms. The first is what the author term "intellectual opposition," which largely centers around the production of knowledge that minimizes or completely denies the harmful consequences of smoking, smokeless tobacco use, and exposure to secondhand smoke. The second form of opposition is overtly political, and includes efforts to elect sympathetic legislators and influence legislative and regulatory decisions at the federal, state, and local levels.
