Tobacco industry youth tobacco prevention programming: a review

This review provides a description of the youth tobacco prevention activities of the Tobacco Institute and the 6 largest U.S. tobacco companies. A computer search of PsycINFO and MedINFO from 1984 to the present, and a concurrent web metasearch of DogPile.com under the terms "tobacco industry" and "youth smoking prevention" was completed. All journal articles and web pages that discussed tobacco industry youth tobacco prevention program methods were examined. Programming was examined by whether it addressed 13 types of components that constitute effective tobacco use prevention. It is concluded that self-generated tobacco industry programming is lacking several of the types of components that are contained in effective programming. Providing financial support of nonindustry programming greatly improves this effort; however, the concept of tobacco industry involvement in youth tobacco prevention needs continued examination.