BMJ readers to decide editor's fate over tobacco funding

For and against: Should Nottingham University give back its tobacco money?

Tobacco is set to kill one billion people in the 21st century, yet Nottingham University has taken £3.8m from British American Tobacco (BAT) to fund an international centre for the study of corporate social responsibility. A debate in this week's BMJ discusses whether the university should return the money and whether the editor, Richard Smith, should resign as professor of medical journalism at the university if it doesn't. Readers will be asked to decide in a unique vote on bmj.com

The University's vice chancellor, Sir Colin Campbell, explains that corporate funding is a vital component of university finance and, in accepting funds from BAT, the university followed, to the letter, the published protocol agreed between the Cancer Research Campaign and the committee of vice chancellors and principals (now Universities UK). Investment in the new centre will build on the university's existing research and teaching strengths, he says.

Sir Colin acknowledges that people will have different views on the advisability of accepting funding from tobacco companies, but argues that in years to come, few people will question the fact that the University of Nottingham accepted funds from the tobacco industry. "What they will see instead will be the high quality, globally relevant input to corporate social responsibility led by the university's business school," he concludes.

By taking money from the tobacco industry, the University of Nottingham debases itself, argues Richard Smith, editor of the BMJ. He believes that the university has crossed a dangerous line, putting its reputation as a moral institution and highly respected research centre at risk.

He reminds us of the astronomical scale of harm caused by tobacco: 100 million people killed prematurely in the 20th century, and one billion set to die in the 21st century, and discusses the unethical behaviour of the industry when it first discovered that its product was killing millions. "I believe that if the leaders of Nottingham University could begin to feel emotionally the human misery caused by tobacco then perhaps BAT's money would be sent straight back," he writes.

Contacts:

Richard Smith, Editor, BMJ, BMA House, London, UK Email: editor@bmj.com

Colin Campbell, Vice Chancellor, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK