Exclusive: Experts pull out of health conferences run by Economist Impact after revelations of commercial links

Pressure is mounting on the publisher of the Economist over its commercial ties with the world’s three biggest tobacco companies, after numerous senior NHS and international health experts pulled out of two more Economist Impact health conferences after the Guardian’s investigation into its links with big tobacco.

Last week, the Guardian revealed that Economist Impact, a division of the Economist Group that ran 136 events in its latest financial year, had been forced to cancel a high-profile world cancer conference in Brussels at the last minute after a backlash from speakers and those due to attend.