Also recommended is Glenn Cohen's post on the University of Virginia's decision to accept a $25 million gift from Phillip Morris to go to research on addiction as well as development of an antismoking campaign.
Cohen writes that this seems "another clever move by Big Tobacco to attempt to at the same time re-habilitate their credibility and to institute a narrative of responsibility that is an attempt to avoid regulation." He further elucidates the narrative: "This latest move by Big Tobacco can be seen as a push back to reclaim the narrative of responsibility. If we are helping people to quit, then those who don't are choosing to smoke, and that choice should be respected."
I wonder if some of the recent attention given to the role of gifts in establishing relationships and notions of reciprocity in the context of industry gifts to physicians or investigators has any relevance here. In any case, regardless of one's position on the merits of UVa's acceptance of the gift, identifying narratives that shape and inform our attitudes and practices with regards to public health (and private collaborations or gifts) seems important.
Ah, academia and funding. On the one hand, UVa taking this money. On the other, Stanford banning small gifts - and if a small gift is bad, isn't a big one going to be worse? (Although I suppose you could argue that a large gift carries more awareness, so it might be easier to distance yourself from it.)
It's something I'm starting to have to think about, where the money in academia comes from. A lot of times, it comes from sources you just wouldn't expect - and then you have to wonder, is it okay to take the money? Can you do more good with it than the bad the attached strings (mental, inferred or expected)?
It seems that until we have a method for funding academic work that doesn't rely on grants and gift-money, we're stuck with the model we have...and that's probably a pity. I suspect we would see much different work, and results, if the money weren't coming from sources that can taint the result (consciously or otherwise).
Posted by: Kelly Hills | February 19, 2007 at 11:28 AM