The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: The tobacco industry has a long history of interfering with scientific research to protect its image. Thus, academic and funding organizations have instituted policies restricting investigators from accepting tobacco industry funding for research. However, no survey exists of the reasons for and effectiveness of these policies.

Methods: A survey of 31 US schools of public health, 125 US medical schools, 56 US dental schools, and research intensive nursing schools was conducted to address administrators' attitudes toward accepting tobacco industry money to fund research. In addition, the content of 36 existing policies from academic institutions and funding organizations regarding tobacco industry funding was analyzed to determine what the requirements of these policies are and how they are enforced.

Results: According to surveyed research administrators, the primary obstacle for implementing such policies is the concern of infringing on academic freedom. Administrators expressed concern about the implications of singling out a particular industry. For those institutions that had a policy, the rationale for the policy most frequently offered was the incompatibility of the activities of the tobacco industry with the mission of the institution rather than a specific concern about conflict of interest. A range of requirements were used in policies, ranging from simple disclosure of funding sources to prohibition. However, many institutions with policies lack formal enforcement mechanisms. Additionally, only 8 policies included a list of funding sources affiliated with the tobacco industry. In their current form, these policies function more as position statements than as effective tools to manage university relationships with industry.