Tobacco-link firm gets UK cancer data

RECORDS of 179,000 UK lung cancer victims were handed to a controversial firm working for US tobacco giant Philip Morris.

Public Health England gave anonymised data on all cases from 2009 to 2013 to William E Wecker Associates under Freedom of Information law.

It did so in 2016 after it said it wanted to evaluate trends in the UK and US.

Prime Minister Theresa May’s spokesman said: “PHE anonymised the data to ensure that no one would be identified.”

It is feared the firm, which has testified for tobacco giants, could use the data to minimise the dangers of smoking.

The FoI request came as Morris tried to fight plain cigarette packs in the UK.