The U.N. health body said there was a conflict of interest in a
tobacco firm funding such research - drawing a sharp rebuke from the
Foundation's head who said his work was independent.
Philip Morris International said this month it wanted to help set up
a body called the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World and planned to
give it about $80 million a year for 12 years to keep it running.
The company did not immediately respond to a request for a comment
on the WHO's statement.

The U.N. body said on Thursday there were already proven techniques
to tackle smoking - including tobacco taxes, graphic warning labels
and advertising bans - which the tobacco industry had opposed in the
past.
"WHO will not partner with the Foundation. Governments should not
partner with the Foundation and the public health community should
follow this lead," it said.
The foundation's founder and president-designate, Derek Yach, a
former senior official at the WHO, said more collaboration, not
less, was needed to win the war on smoking.
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"I am deeply disappointed, therefore, by WHO’s complete
mischaracterisation of the nature, structure and intent of the
Foundation in its recent statements - and especially by its
admonition to others not to work together."
He said the foundation was a non-profit organization with strict
rules to insulate it from the influence of the tobacco industry, and
its research agenda would be subject to peer review.
(Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by Toby Chopra and Andrew Heavens)
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