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Philip Morris Stubs Out Tobacco Research
At last, the tobacco company Philip Morris has ended its program supporting research at dozens of U.S. universities after the University of California decided to monitor such support in its 10-campus system. The Philip Morris External Research Program funded 470 research proposals at about 60 U.S. medical schools for the last 8 years, reports Science. Critics charged the program was no different from earlier, discredited Philip Morris programs, likewise designed to confuse the public about the dangers of smoking…. There might be a spark left in the ashtray though. Look for future tobacco- industry funded studies aimed at "reducing the harm of smoking." —Like quitting?
Julia Whitty is Mother Jones' environmental correspondent, lecturer, and 2008 winner of the John Burroughs Medal Award. You can read from her new book, The Fragile Edge, and other writings, here.
This is not quite accurate. Philip Morris ended its External Research Program, but it maintains master research agreements with universities (at least one that I know of - active until 2009) and funds gifts (such as $25M to UVa) and non-ERP research contracts (such as the UCLA center whose primate researcher was attacked). The only thing that has ended is the pseudo peer review. They still fund academic researchers for work that makes Philip Morris look good without putting their US or, more importantly, international tobacco sales in jeopardy.