Abigail J. Moss

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This article is part of the Tobacco portal on Sourcewatch funded from 2006 - 2009 by the American Legacy Foundation.

Abigail J. Moss was a statistician for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the National Center for Health Statistics, National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, in 1994. She is considered a plaintiff's expert in lawsuits against the tobacco industry. Moss published a study in June 1991 that found that children who live in households with smokers are almost twice as likely to be in fair or poor health than children never exposed to cigarette smoke.[1]

Biography

Mary D. Overpeck (epidemiologist) and Abigail J. Moss (statistician) were authors of a study cited in Philip Morris ad, "Were You Misled?" in 1994. Philip Morris' intent was to publicize the alleged flaws in EPA's report, "Respiratory Health Effects of Passive Smoking: Lung Cancer and Other Disorders". Philip Morris relied heavily on the findings of Overpeck/Moss study of exposures to environmental tobacco smoke. However, that finding was never used as evidence in the EPA report. The other finding from the Overpeck/Moss study cited by EPA was that "42% of children 5 years age and under are estimated to live in households with current smokers." Per Overpeck and Moss, the EPA report was meticulous in presenting descriptions from other studies that demonstrated scientific evidence of the respiratory effects of environmental tobacco smoke . . . . If other studies cited in the EPA report were as "misrepresented" as was our study, then 'facts' presented in the Philip Morris are highly suspect."(Moss/Los Angeles Times 8/3/94).

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