The tobacco and chemical industries together campaigned to delay and weaken international regulations on pesticide use, according to new US research. The findings, reported ahead of publication on the Environmental Health Perspectives website, are based on an analysis of internal tobacco company documents.

The researchers found the tobacco industry hired ex-agency scientists to intervene in US Environmental Protection Agency decision-making, hired a consultant to influence World Health Organisation pesticide regulatory deliberations without revealing his industry ties, and staged a useless test aimed at convincing regulators that no further restrictions were needed to control an especially deadly pesticide, phosphine.

Report senior author Gina Solomon, assistant clinic professor at University of California San Francisco (UCSF) School of Nursing and senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), said: 'Cynical manipulation of health protection in favour of corporate profit may not be new. But this is the first time we've seen 'big tobacco' working hand-in-glove with the big chemical companies, with the proof of the deception glaring from their own internal documents.'

• The tobacco industry and pesticide regulations: Case studies from tobacco industry archives. Environmental Health Perspectives, online doi:10.1289/ehp.7452.