History[edit]
TASSC was created in 1993 by the APCO Worldwide public relations firm, and was funded by tobacco company Philip Morris (now Altria) to help fight against smoking regulations.[5] TASSC's links to the tobacco industry were minimized as part of APCO's strategy to "establish an image of a national grassroots coalition."[2]
The group has been described as an effort by tobacco companies who "wanted to cast grave doubts on government scientists' capacity to produce fair research", and who "quietly formed a coalition of industries that would challenge every aspect of government science, from its studies of global warming to auto safety."[notes 2][10][2]