A new report in today's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association reveals that tobacco companies pressured pharmaceutical makers throughout the 1980s and 1990s into reducing marketing campaigns for anti-smoking products such as nicotine gum and skin patches. Based on documents recorded during the 1998 national tobacco settlement, the report indicates that cigarette manufacturers, on numerous occasions, threatened to cease business with smaller drug companies if they continued to heavily market nicotine supplements.

According to the report, a Dow Chemical subsidiary cut back its anti-smoking educational program for Nicorette chewing gum after Philip Morris warned the company that it would stop purchasing materials from it. Spokespersons representing Big Tobacco say the documents are outdated and do not reflect how their companies presently conduct business with anti-smoking drug corporations.