The Scientific Commission (SC) of the Swiss Cigarette Manufacturers Association (SCMA) has been active between 1962 and the end of the 1990s. The commission fulfilled multiple tasks in the service of the tobacco industry : planning of external joint research, public relations work, lobbying, and collaboration with public authorities as well as organisations with a similar mission as the SC itself. In addition, it monitored research on smoking and health, reviewed studies that were detrimental to the cigarette manufacturers' interest and organized pro-tobacco scientific meetings. The commission was thus a powerful tool at the disposal of the tobacco industry. It also had a major impact on public health through perpetuating the pseudo-controversy about the negative effects of smoking on health.