According to the European Respiratory Society, those who submit studies for publication are explicitly asked during submission "to assert that no potential conflict of interest involving the tobacco industry exists regarding the submitted manuscript."
The authors of the article claimed that no such conflict of interests existed, despite having direct affiliation with the tobacco industry.
The article, published in July 2020, claimed that current smokers were 23% less likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19 compared to non-smokers and that current smoking had no adverse effect on the symptoms of those who did contract coronavirus.
Such a study, which claims that there is a positive side to smoking cigarettes amid the coronavirus pandemic, is a dangerous claim which may benefit the tobacco industry as it may be seen as further motivation to smoke cigarettes.
The retraction stated that "it was brought to the editors' attention that two of the authors had failed to disclose potential conflicts of interest at the time of the manuscript's submission: that is, one of the authors (José M. Mier) at the time had a current and ongoing role in providing consultancy to the tobacco industry on tobacco harm reduction; and another (Konstantinos Poulas) at the time was a principal investigator for the Greek NGO NOSMOKE, which has its base at Patras Science Park, a science and innovation hub that has received funding from the Foundation for a Smoke Free World (an organization funded by the tobacco industry)."
The publication stated that, after a serious review, editors and members of the Society agreed that had they known of the conflict of interests prior to the article's publication, they would not have allowed it to be considered for publication.
Affiliation with the tobacco industry violates bylaws set in place by the European Respiratory Society, which states that its mission is "to promote lung health and alleviate suffering from respiratory disease."
Those affiliated in any way with the tobacco industry are banned from participating in the publication's activities, having a society membership, and participating in its congresses and meetings. They may not publish in the society's journals, either.