Health Policy Watch, 2 June 2025, by Sophia Samantaroy
Over 30 health organizations representing 12 million doctors, nurses, and public health professionals globally have pledged to no longer work with advertising agencies that partner with the fossil fuel industry, citing conflicts of interest and the resulting health effects from industry disinformation campaigns.
The organizations span five continents and include prominent groups such as Médecins Sans Frontières, The Lancet, the World Organisation of Family Doctors, and the Yale Centre on Climate Change and Health.
For decades, oil and gas companies have employed PR and lobbying tactics strikingly similar to those of the tobacco industry: seeding doubt about established science, creating front groups, and pushing misleading narratives to stall regulation despite overwhelming evidence that fossil fuel pollution harms human and planetary health.
Yet many of the same PR and advertising agencies employed by health groups to promote healthy habits, vaccinations, and cancer prevention have continued partnering with fossil fuel companies, spreading misleading messages that downplay or deny these health harms and delay action needed to curb emissions.
“The same PR firms spreading fossil fuel disinformation are also working with health organizations—a clear conflict of interest for health,” said Shweta Narayan, Campaign Lead at the Global Climate and Health Alliance (GCHA). “Fossil fuels are making us sick, and the companies behind them are spending millions on advertising and PR to cover it up.”
