[Intl-tobacco] UK universities agree protocol for tobacco company funding

[robert.weissman@essentialinformation.org]

UK universities agree protocol for tobacco company funding

BMJ 2004;329:9 (3 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7456.9

Susan Mayor
London

UK universities and the charity Cancer Research UK have signed a joint
protocol on good practice for universities on the issue of funding of
research by the tobacco industry.

The joint protocol acknowledges that it is up to individual universities to
decide what research funds to accept, when to accept or reject an offer of
funds, and what work should take place in its facilities. It agrees,
however, that universities "will consider carefully" whether to accept
funding from any source "if to do so would be potentially detrimental to
their reputation." In a related protocol, Code of Practice on Tobacco
Industry Funding to Universities, Cancer Research UK noted that a
university's ties with the tobacco industry would be an important factor in
decision making by Cancer Research UK when it is considering awarding major
new research funding.

Jean King, director of tobacco control with Cancer Research UK, said: "It i=
s
vital that Cancer Research UK takes a strong stance against the tobacco
industry. Nobody should forget that a tobacco company's aim is to sell its
product and make profit. This is helped by making its product as socially
palatable as possible."

Diana Warwick, chief executive of Universities UK=8Bwhich represents all UK
universities and some higher education colleges that developed the protocol
with Cancer Research UK=8Badded: "UK universities would not wish to underta=
ke
activities that compromise the integrity or independence of their work."

The protocol was welcomed at an international level. Dr Derek Yach, an
executive director of the World Health Organization, said: "Universities
worldwide should consider following the lead shown by Cancer Research UK an=
d
all adopt similar codes that protect the integrity of science against the
tobacco industry."

David Simpson, director of the International Agency on Tobacco and Health,
said: "Documents from tobacco companies have revealed that they have fudged
scientific evidence, which is completely alien to academic behaviour. They
are now trying to buy respectability by funding social projects and researc=
h
in prestigious universities, but their underlying aim has to be to gain
commercial advantage."

The issue of funding of university research by the tobacco industry has bee=
n
a matter of debate for some time. In 2001, Richard Smith, editor of the BMJ=
,
resigned from his position as professor of medical journalism at the
University of Nottingham after it accepted =A33.8m ($7m; 5.7m) from British
American Tobacco (BAT) to fund an international centre for the study of
corporate responsibility ( BMJ 2001;322: 1200).