A division of the publisher of the Economist has been forced to cancel a high-profile cancer conference at the last minute amid a backlash from speakers and attendees over its association with the tobacco companies behind brands including Marlboro and Benson & Hedges. Economist Impact, part of the Economist Group, which owns the eponymous weekly business magazine, was due to hold its 10th annual world cancer series in Brussels at the end of the month. The two-day event, at the Marriott Hotel Grand Palace, is touted as “shaping the cancer-control agenda” and had attracted more than 300 attendees and 80 speakers.
The Guardian understands the event was cancelled because of a backlash against ties that Economist Impact has with Philip Morris International, the world’s biggest tobacco company and owner of the most popular brand Marlboro, and Japan Tobacco International, which owns brands including Camel, Silk Cut and Benson & Hedges. Last week, the Union for International Cancer Control, the oldest and largest global membership organisation dedicated to taking action on cancer, said it was pulling out of the Economist Impact event “due to its ties to the tobacco industry” . “This decision stems from the fact that UICC has learned that Economist Impact works with Philip Morris International (PMI) and Japan Tobacco International (JTI),” the union said.
“UICC has a longstanding policy of not engaging with the tobacco industry, in alignment with the World Health Organi.