While at
FoxNews.com, Milloy has continued to criticize claims that secondhand tobacco smoke causes cancer.[3] However, with the release of confidential tobacco industry documents as part of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, the objectivity of Milloy's stance on secondhand smoke has been questioned. Based on this documentation, journalists Paul D. Thacker and George Monbiot, as well as the Union of Concerned Scientists and others, have contended that Milloy is a paid advocate for the tobacco industry.[3][5][15]
Milloy's junkscience.com website was reviewed and revised by a public relations firm hired by the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.[16] Milloy also worked as executive director of The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition (TASSC), a "front group" established in 1993 by Philip Morris and its public relations firm "to expand and assist Philip Morris in its efforts with issues in targeted states."[3][17][18] Philip Morris memos describe "utilizing TASSC as a tool in targeted legislative battles";[19] a 1994 Philip Morris memo listed TASSC among its "Tools to Affect Legislative Decisions".[20] According to its 1997 annual report, TASSC "sponsored" junkscience.com.[21]
The New Republic reported that Milloy, who is presented by Fox News as an independent journalist, was under contract to provide consulting services to Philip Morris through the end of 2005.[3] In 2000 and 2001, for example, Milloy received a total of $180,000 in payments from Philip Morris for consulting services.[22] A spokesperson for Fox News stated, "Fox News was unaware of Milloy's connection with Philip Morris. Any affiliation he had should have been disclosed."[3] Milloy's association with the Cato Institute ended shortly afterwards; however, as of March 2008[update], he continues to write for FoxNews.com, where he is described as a "junk science expert."[23] Monbiot wrote: "Even after Fox News was told about the money [Milloy] had been receiving from Philip Morris and Exxon, it continued to employ him, without informing its readers about his interests."[24] Thacker wrote:
Objective viewers long ago realized that Fox News has a political agenda. But, when a pundit promotes this agenda while on the take from corporations that benefit from it, then Fox News has gone one disturbing step further.[3]
The American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation (
no-smoke.org) similarly stated that "...Milloy has made it his life’s work to deny scientific studies conducted and published by the world’s most reputable and credible scientific agencies... and label their objective evidence as 'junk science'. Milloy has a lucrative and lengthy relationship with the tobacco industry."[25]