Criteria for evaluating tobacco control research funding programs and their application to models that include financial support from the tobacco industry
- Joanna E Cohen1,
- Mitch Zeller2,
- Thomas Eissenberg3,
- Mark Parascandola4,
- Robert O'Keefe5,
- Lynn Planinac1,
- Scott Leischow6
- 1 Ontario Tobacco Research Unit, University of Toronto, Canada;
- 2 Pinney Associates, United States;
- 3 Virginia Commonwealth University, United States;
- 4 National Cancer Institute, United States;
- 5 Health Effects Institute, United States;
- 6 University of Arizona, Canada
- E-mail: joanna_cohen{at}camh.net
- Received 14 September 2008
- Accepted 10 February 2009
- Published Online First 24 February 2009
Abstract
Much has been discussed and written about the purposes, outcomes, and ethics related to tobacco industry funding of research.e.g., 1-9 The issue is controversial because of tobacco industry funding mechanisms that have been used by the tobacco industry to gain credibility and to advance the industry’s interests which may come at the expense of public health;e.g., 6 at the same time others have argued that, given the scarcity of funding from other sources, tobacco industry support may be defensible, at least under some circumstances.e.g., 10 These concerns raise the question of whether there could be a model of tobacco company funding that would be acceptable to the tobacco control research community. This paper presents a set of criteria for evaluating funding models and applies them to four diverse models.
