[Intl-tobacco] Germany: scientists accused soft peddling 2d hand smoke dangers

[robert weissman]

British Medical Journal
BMJ  2005;331:70 (9 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7508.70-c
News extra

Public health scientists accused of soft peddling the dangers of passive
smoking after taking grants from tobacco related organisations

Heidelberg -- Annette Tuffs

Four German public health scientists have been publicly criticised in
Der Spiegel magazine for accepting funding from the tobacco industry in
return for supporting tobacco friendly research projects and policies in
the 1980s.

Berlin journalist and public health expert Dietmar Jazbinsek discovered
the names of 15 German prominent public health scientists in the
internet archives of the 40 million documents which the tobacco industry
had to make public following a US court decision in 1998.

He claimed that the documents showed that four of them received large
sums from the tobacco industry or organisations dependent on the tobacco
industry for their research and had repaid the favour by doing tobacco
friendly research and by promoting tobacco friendly health advice.

Jazbinsek=92s report was commissioned by the head of the WHO Collaborating
Centre for Tobacco Control at the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ),
Heidelberg, Martina Poetschke-Langer.

The largest sum of 1.6m DM allegedly went to Professor Karl =DCberla in
1982, the then head of the German drug agency, for a study on the
effects of passive smoking. According to Jasbinzek in the following
years he tried to play down the risks of passive smoking. For instance
in 1990 he published an article in the German weekly "Muenchener
Medizinische Wochenschrift" and gave talks which questioned the
connection between passive smoking and tobacco.
http://www.peutinger.de/peutinger/wissens_aktiv/forschung/rauchueberlatop.h=
tm

Questioned by the BMJ, the now retired Professlor =DCberla denied ever
belittling the risks of smoking, called himself a passionate anti-smoker
and said that he does not have any reason to reproach himself . He said
that he himself never received money from the Tabacco Industry. The
grant which he might have applied for, went to a non-profit organisation
which did not receive 1.6 Million DM but only about the half of it.
However he could not remember the details of the research applications
more than 20 years ago. The grant money was used for instance for
experiments finding traces of tobacco in passive smokers which were
consequently published. Professor =DCberla said that he was not involved
in any decision of the Federal Health Agency regarding smoking and he
could not find any serious blames when searching the US tobacco industry
documents himself.

In the Der Spiegel article, Jazbinsek accuses Professor Johannes
Gostomzyk, former head of the public health office in Augsburg, of
playing down the risks of passive smoking in return for tobacco industry
grants. The article says that he uncritically passed on scientific
information on passive smoking which he was given during a research
visit to the US. He did not respond to a request for an interview from
the BMJ.

Professor Juergen von Troschke, head of the Medical Sociology Institute
of the University of Freiburg, was criticised in Der Spiegel for denying
the addictive power of smoking and the risks of passive smoking. In 1982
he received a research grant of 40.000 DM for a literature study on the
psychosocial benefit of smoking and published articles on the benefit of
moderate smoking as a stress relief factor. In Der Spiegel he is said to
have compared the discrimination against smokers with the persecution of
the Jews.

In a statement of the homepage of his Freiburg Institute, von Troschke
admitted that he was too trustful in the 1980s accepting research grants
which might be awarded from ulterior motives.
http://www.medsoz.uni-freiburg.de/welcome.htm

The homepage also contains a letter to the president of the German
Public Health Society in which von Troschke resigns from the society=92s
board until he is cleared from the accusations in order to protect the
society from damage.

Furthermore, von Troschke says that the accusations in the Der Spiegel
article are wrong and he did not represent the interests of the tobacco
industry. He says he was involved in several anti smoking actions and
programmes as well as anti-tobacco resolutions. He also points out that
he had completed his research on tobacco issues in the 1990s, before
moving into the field of public health.

Professor von Troschke did not respond to the the request for an
interview with the BMJ.

His colleague Professor Johannes Siegrist, head of the department of
Medical Sociology, at the University of Duesseldorf, the fourth person
to be criticised in the Der Spiegel article, spoke to the BMJ and said
he regretted his na=EFve acceptance of research grants. He made the same
statement on the institute=92s website (
http://www.uni-duesseldorf.de/MedicalSociology/Spiegel/Stellungnahme_Spiege=
l_aktuell.htm
). On the website, he also announces his retirement as the public health
spokesperson of North-Rhine-Westphalia. He denies the Der Spiegel claim
that he has played down the health risks of smoking. To the contrary, he
points out that his research findings listed on his website show
evidence of health-adverse effects of smoking.

The research grants totalling 400.000 DM that he received from three
tobacco industry sources in the 1980s were used for an epidemiological
study investigating the effects of industrial labour on cardiovascular
disease. But he stresses that no other sponsors were available, that he
accepted the grants on the basis of scientific freedom and that the
tobacco related sponsors were listed in scientific publications.

In retrospect he feels deceived by the tobacco industry and quotes
evidence from the internet tobacco archive as his defence. On his
website cites, as an example, an internal protocol of Reynolds Tobacco
Company about a conversation, in which a tobacco representative says:
"Although I am not very hopeful, I believe that with a sufficient
effort, Dr. Siegrist could be =91educated=92."

Meanwhile the German Societies for Social Medicine and Public Health
have reacted to the allegations towards some of their members. Professor
Bernt-Peter Robra, president of the German Society for Social Medicine
and public health expert at the University of Magdeburg, denies the
overall allegation of obstructing public health anti tobacco strategies
in Germany and points towards numerous activities against smoking.
However, he says, that the active influence of the tobacco industry is
indisputable and "shameful science" exists. Therefore, the societies are
preparing a declaration committing all members to abstaining from
accepting grants, travel costs, conference fee etc. from the tobacco
industry as well as institutions sponsored by the tobacco industry.