Pascal Diethelm (born 1 December 1944) is a Swiss

econometrician Econometrics is the application of statistical methods to economic data in order to give empirical content to economic relationships. M. Hashem Pesaran (1987). "Econometrics," '' The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics'', v. 2, p. 8 p. 8 ...

and

tobacco control Tobacco control is a field of international public health science, policy and practice dedicated to addressing tobacco use and thereby reducing the morbidity and mortality it causes. Since most cigarettes and cigars and hookahs contain/use ...

activist who is the president of the anti-smoking organization OxyRomandie. He formerly worked at the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

(WHO) from 1970 until his retirement in 1999.

Career

At the WHO, he developed a database to monitor smoking prevalence rates around the world. When he retired from the WHO, he was its headquarters chief of networking and telecommunications in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. In the 2000s, while working at the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centu ...

, Diethelm discovered that the Swedish scientist Ragnar Rylander had been serving as a secret consultant to the tobacco company Philip Morris since the 1970s. Diethelm, along with his colleague Jean-Charles Rielle, were subsequently sued for

libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

by Rylander after they accused him of "scientific cheating without precedent". The case was ultimately appealed to the

Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland The Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland (german: Bundesgericht, french: Tribunal fédéral, it, Tribunale federale, rm, ) is the supreme court of the Swiss Confederation and at the head of the Swiss judiciary. The Federal Supreme Court i ...

before finally being decided in Diethelm's and Rielle's favor.

Publications

Articles

See Pubmed

Books

* Pascal Diethelm and

Martin McKee Clifford Martin McKee, CBE (born 12 July 1956), is professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Biography He was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution and trained as a doctor at ...

, ''Lifting the Smokescreen: Tobacco industry strategy to defeat smoke free policies and legislation'',

European Respiratory Society The European Respiratory Society, or ERS, is a non-profit organization with offices in Lausanne, Brussels and Sheffield. It was founded in 1990 in the field of respiratory medicine. The organization was formed with the merger of the Societas Euro ...

and French National Cancer Institute, 2006.

References

Bibliography

* 1944 births Living people Swiss health activists World Health Organization officials Anti-smoking activists Academic staff of the University of Geneva Econometricians Swiss economists Swiss officials of the United Nations {{Switzerland-activist-stub