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A guide to deciphering the internal codes used by the tobacco industry

Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Correspondence to:
Doris Cullen
dcullen@hsph.harvard.edu

Keywords: tobacco industry; internal codes

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Many tobacco control researchers and advocates are now aware of the value of the internal tobacco industry documents made public as a result of the state attorney generals’ Master Settlement Agreement. A growing body of document based research provides dramatic insight into industry initiatives and strategies. These published studies also provide countless examples of the secret language commonly used by the tobacco industry internally. As observed in Philip Morris’ Dictionary of tobacco terminology: "Every specialized field has its own language".¹ The language of the internal documents is frequently comprised of project names, acronyms, abbreviations, numerical identifiers, and other coded terms, presented without any clear indication of their definitions or meanings. These coded terms can make the task of document research very daunting: like trying to learn a foreign language without an instructor or reference dictionary.

Familiarity with the codes used internally by manufacturers is critical to successfully conducting document . . . [Full text of this article]