$476) Che ee Rie PE so Ed

February 26, 2003

Features

Section Editor: Sven Bellamy

the other press

 

When universities

and cigarette
companies share
funds and board
members, are
the ethics of
our institutions

compromised?

 

opfeatures@netscape.net

The Ethics of Tobacco

Holly Beck
The McGill Daily

MONTREAL (CUP)—It is public
knowledge that cigarette companies
routinely donate money to various
charitable causes. But the fact that cig-
arette companies routinely contribute
money to Canadian universities,
including their medical faculties, may
be less known.

A recent study, conducted by two
professors from the Universities of
Toronto and Laval and backed by
Canada’s National Cancer Institute and
the Canadian Cancer Society, exam-
ined the relationship between the
tobacco industry and Canada’s univer-
sities. The study found that a quarter of
all medical faculties in Canada have
received money from cigarette compa-
nies, and that 26 tobacco executives
currently hold positions on Canadian
university boards. Furthermore, not a
single university has policies regulating
tobacco industry donations.

The study poses an ethical question
that has triggered strong responses from
both sides—does tobacco money have
any place in our universities?

MCGILLS TOBACCO TIES

Since 1991, big tobacco has donated
nearly $2 million to a myriad of proj-
ects at Montréal’s McGill University,
including research projects on brain
tumours, AIDS and multiple sclerosis,
and a fully-funded chair in the
Management faculty. Tobacco funding
has also gone toward the McGill
Institute for the Study of Canada, the
Faculty of Music and of Engineering,
the McGill men’s hockey program, stu-
dent scholarships, and university
libraries.

Over $1.8 million of tobacco indus-
try donations to McGill have come
from Imperial Tobacco Canada
Limited, or its former parent company,
Imasco Limited, which was dissolved in
2000. Imperial Tobacco distributes du
Maurier, Player’s and Matinée ciga-
rettes.

THE ETHICS OF INVESTMENT
Fernand Turcotte, the Laval University
medical professor who conducted the
study in partnership with U of T’s
Johanna Cohen, believes it is highly
unethical for universities to turn to the
tobacco industry for funding.

“It is my deep belief that universities
shouldn't touch tobacco money any
more than money coming from cocaine
cartels,” Turcotte said. “Its tainted
money, made from the killing of our
citizens.”

Christina Dona, media relations
manager for Imperial Tobacco Canada,

said Imperial does not press contribu-
tions without first receiving a request.

“We don't solicit; we only respond to
requests,” Dona said. “[Universities]
have control over who they request
donations from.”

McGill VP of Development and

Alumni Relations Derek Drummond
acknowledged that members of a uni-
versity community might object to the
soliciting of contributions from tobac-
co companies, based on the health risks
tobacco poses.
“I understand that there are anti-smok-
ing pressure groups that will [lobby
against tobacco donations]. I wouldn't
be surprised if certain members of the
staff in the medical faculty were very
outspoken against the tobacco indus-
try.”

Margaret Sommerville, acting direc-
tor of the McGill Centre for Medicine,
Ethics and Law, says the issue becomes
more complicated when tobacco
money is being donated for medical
research.

“I heard about one project where a
tobacco company was funding medical
research to develop an anti-lung cancer
vaccine, so that people could get vacci-
nated and then continue to smoke.
Now that’s a tricky one, isn’t it?” she
said. “What we have to decide is
whether allowing cigarette companies
to give money to medical faculties is
wrong overall because of the source of
the money, and in accepting those
donations it might do more harm than
good. I think you can go both ways on
that.”

“You could construct an argument
saying it is more ethical to fund
research to correct harm they're doing,
but I don't think that’s a valid argu-
ment,” Sommerville said. “I think if
youre causing harm, what you have to
do is stop causing harm instead of try-
ing to remedy it further down the line.”

Dona said that Imperial regularly
funds philanthropic projects as part of
its corporate mandate.

“We feel, to be truly successful, we
should be making a difference in the
lives around us, and contributing in a
meaningful way,” Dona said. “This is
an obligation we accept willingly and
scrupulously strive to meet, as do many
other corporations in Canada.”

But Sommerville said tobacco com-
panies might make philanthropic dona-
tions partly to polish their questionable
images.

“One reason companies want to give
is because they can say they're good
people, and good people don’t do bad
things. Well, I think promoting smok-

   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
   
   
   
 
  
    
   
 
   
   
   
  
  
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
   
  
  
 

ing is a bad thing,” she said.

Sommerville formerly sat on the
board of directors of the Canadian
Sports Council, where she said the
question of tobacco money also came
up. “The board decided not to pursue
tobacco funding because it would con-
done the promotion of smoking,” she
said.

CAN DONATIONS INFLUENCE
RESEARCH?

Donations from tobacco companies to
universities are even more objection-
able when they sponsor medical stud-
ies, claims Turcotte. He said that tobac-
co money has the power to direct
research toward—or more importantly,
away from—certain areas.

“(The influence] is very subtle. It
buys mostly omission,” Turcotte said.
“Donations are very powerful deter-
rents, at least from coming out publicly
on issues that are germane to the tobac-
co problem.”

But Drummond firmly denies that
tobacco companies are able to influence
research at McGill.

“The word ‘ridiculous’ comes to
mind—you can't buy influence that
way,” he said. “I understand they buy
influence when they sponsor a sports
event and call it the du Maurier Classic,
but you don’t see anything [at McGill]
named after them.”

Drummond later added that he is
McGill’s current Macdonald Professor
of Architecture, a 107-year-old chair
named for Sir William Macdonald, the
founder of the JTI-Macdonald
Corporation, distributor of Export “A”
cigarettes.

Dona said Imperial has no ulterior
motives when it funds university
research projects.

“We're not buying anything; we're
responding to requests for donations,”
she said. “There are no strings attached,
and we don’t have any control over how
that money is actually applied.”

But Turcotte argued that the influ-
ence exists regardless.

“Several studies that have shown that
the mere proximity [of funding to
research affects the research]...One
doesn’t bite the hand that feeds them,
and that applies to donations as well,”
he said. “It’s one of the reasons univer-
sities should not touch that money|
under any condition.”

A TALE OF TWO BOARDROOMS
It is a little known fact that two forme
members of McGill's Royal Victoria

Hospital’s Board of Directors
Bernard Roy and Purdy Crawford—

continued on page 13

 

 

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