May 31, 2024 02:10 AM
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1046359
INTRO: Tobacco-funded research is still appearing in highly-cited medical journals - despite attempts by some to cut ties altogether, finds an investigation by The Investigative Desk and The BMJ today.
Although the tobacco industry has a long history of subverting science, most leading medical journals don’t have policies which ban research wholly or partly funded by the industry.
And even when publishers, authors and universities are willing to restrict tobacco industry ties, they struggle to identify funding sources because tobacco companies have funded front groups and have diversified into pharmaceutical and health technology fields.
These investments include treatments for conditions caused or aggravated by smoking, such as lung cancer, heart disease, and asthma. These ties complicate ongoing efforts of researchers, scientific organisations and journals to distance themselves from the industry and has led to calls for journals to not only institute bans on research by tobacco companies but also on their subsidiaries.
The Investigative Desk and The BMJ searched the PubMed database and found hundreds of relationships between Big Tobacco’s medical and pharmaceutical subsidiaries and medical research... (MORE - details, no ads)
INTRO: Tobacco-funded research is still appearing in highly-cited medical journals - despite attempts by some to cut ties altogether, finds an investigation by The Investigative Desk and The BMJ today.
Although the tobacco industry has a long history of subverting science, most leading medical journals don’t have policies which ban research wholly or partly funded by the industry.
And even when publishers, authors and universities are willing to restrict tobacco industry ties, they struggle to identify funding sources because tobacco companies have funded front groups and have diversified into pharmaceutical and health technology fields.
These investments include treatments for conditions caused or aggravated by smoking, such as lung cancer, heart disease, and asthma. These ties complicate ongoing efforts of researchers, scientific organisations and journals to distance themselves from the industry and has led to calls for journals to not only institute bans on research by tobacco companies but also on their subsidiaries.
The Investigative Desk and The BMJ searched the PubMed database and found hundreds of relationships between Big Tobacco’s medical and pharmaceutical subsidiaries and medical research... (MORE - details, no ads)