VCU panel questioned about Philip Morris deals

Several speakers told 18 members of a task force studying the issue that the university needs to rethink whether its researchers should sign "work-for-hire" agreements with Richmond-based Philip Morris. The forum was open only to faculty, staff and students.

Some faculty members questioned whether scientists could retain their academic integrity, which includes the freedom to publish their research. VCU agreed in 2006 to research identifying early signs of pulmonary disease and reducing wastewater pollution from a Philip Morris plant. The company prohibited university faculty and students from discussing the results, which many speakers said contradicts the mission of academic research.

"Tobacco companies have demonstrated a callous disregard for the scientific community," and have demonstrated their "eagerness to twist scientific endeavors to their own means," said Peter deFur, a professor in the university's Center for Environmental studies.

Francis Macrina, chairman of the panel, said that contract work for corporations and the federal government is an important component of the research process. While he admitted the secrecy of the Philip Morris contract was a mistake, he distinguished between contract work and researcher-driven work that's funded with grant money, in which corporations don't control research or its publication.

The University of Virginia, for example, received $25 million from Philip Morris last year, most of it going toward anti-smoking research and the study of smoking-induced disease. Duke University received $30 million in a similar deal.

Several schools have opted to ban tobacco funding, including the medical schools at Harvard and Emory universities and the schools of public health at Ohio State and Johns Hopkins. The University of California system voted last year to allow tobacco-industry research funding for projects approved by a scientific review committee.

Dan Ream, a panel member and president of the VCU Faculty Senate, said that people who perform contract research have chosen to do so and have agreed to the corporations' terms. Others warned that the university shouldn't become too restrictive if it decides to change its contract research policies.

But others said the issue boils down to whether it's ethical for a university with a cancer treatment center and a mission to improve public health to accept funding from a company that makes a deadly product--and whether continuing to do so would undermine the school's reputation.

"Is it acceptable for a medical school to accept research money from tobacco companies?" said Richard Moran, a professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. "I hope the answer is no."