2008 Woodie Awards
Universities reject funding from tobacco companies
Lauren Newmyer
Issue date: 2/16/08 Section: World
"The benevolence of the Preston Robert Tisch family will have an enormous impact upon the search for new brain tumor treatments," Victor Dzau, president and CEO of the Duke University Health System said according to a Duke University news release. "Their contribution will enable Duke to recruit and retain the brightest researchers and will create tremendous promise for all cancer research at Duke."
Just a year earlier, Duke accepted $15 million from cigarette company Philip Morris to fund the development of the new Comprehensive Cancer Center, which aimed to research ways to help people quit smoking.
Some questioned the tobacco company's interest in funding a center for smoking cessation and worried that giving Phillip Morris ties to a cancer research center would allow them to tamper with the research.
"You know that saying 'Bombing for peace is like f---ing for chastity'? Well funding cancer research with cigarette money is kind of like that," said first-year biology and pre-veterinary major Grace Normann. "It's paradoxical and unethical."
"The argument for rejecting funding is that the tobacco industry has a 50-plus-year history of a corrupting influence on medical research," said Dr. Michael J. Thun, the chief of epidemiological research at the American Cancer Society, to The New York Times.
Yet Duke remained insistent that the university's scientists alone will control the direction of the research. They retain the right to publish results without having Philip Morris approve them.
"We were cautious in considering whether to accept this grant or not. We would not want to be part of any whitewashed effort," said R. Sanders Williams, dean of the Duke medical school.
The American Legacy Foundation, a non-profit organization that aims to help smokers quit, provides grants to universities that wish to do research without accepting additional funding from tobacco companies. The foundation has granted over 300 grants, valued at over $150 million. to support research in tobacco prevention and related topics over the years.
Just a year earlier, Duke accepted $15 million from cigarette company Philip Morris to fund the development of the new Comprehensive Cancer Center, which aimed to research ways to help people quit smoking.
Some questioned the tobacco company's interest in funding a center for smoking cessation and worried that giving Phillip Morris ties to a cancer research center would allow them to tamper with the research.
"You know that saying 'Bombing for peace is like f---ing for chastity'? Well funding cancer research with cigarette money is kind of like that," said first-year biology and pre-veterinary major Grace Normann. "It's paradoxical and unethical."
"The argument for rejecting funding is that the tobacco industry has a 50-plus-year history of a corrupting influence on medical research," said Dr. Michael J. Thun, the chief of epidemiological research at the American Cancer Society, to The New York Times.
Yet Duke remained insistent that the university's scientists alone will control the direction of the research. They retain the right to publish results without having Philip Morris approve them.
"We were cautious in considering whether to accept this grant or not. We would not want to be part of any whitewashed effort," said R. Sanders Williams, dean of the Duke medical school.
The American Legacy Foundation, a non-profit organization that aims to help smokers quit, provides grants to universities that wish to do research without accepting additional funding from tobacco companies. The foundation has granted over 300 grants, valued at over $150 million. to support research in tobacco prevention and related topics over the years.
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