The tobacco industry recruited and managed an international network of more than 80 scientific and medical experts in Europe, Asia, and elsewhere in a bid to avoid regulations on secondhand smoke, a new report says.

In one year, 1991, the budget for the programme for Europe alone was $3.3m (£1.9m, €2.8m), say the authors of the report (European Journal of Public Health 2006;16; 69-77).

The consultants on environmental tobacco smoke, also known as whitecoats, were paid and managed by US lawyers working for the industry, and one of …