Tobacco control and the collateral damage of conflict of interest

Tobacco control and the collateral damage of conflict of interest Anne MArie Todkill for The ediTors of open Medicine Anne Marie Todkill is an associate editor with Open Medicine. D iscussion of conflict of interest is not new to this journal; one variation on the theme concerned the appointment of a pharmaceutical industry executive to the governing council of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. 1,2 We now turn to a similar controversy that erupted recently with respect to the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) when it came to public attention that the chair of their board of governors had an affiliation with the tobacco industry. IDRC, a Crown agency, funds tobacco control programs among many other initiatives. Their board chair, former Cabinet minister Barbara McDougall, had been on the board of directors of Imperial Tobacco Canada since March 2004 and had chaired its corporate social responsibility committee. This was not declared in the IDRC's announcement of McDougall's appointment to their board in January 2007, or when she became board chair in December of that year. The inappropriateness of serving on these two boards simultaneously is self-evident. But what can get lost in the furore of conflict-of-interest allegations is an informed understanding of the collateral damage caused by such conflicts. What has also been missed to some extent is an understanding of how this particular case exemplifies the insidious challenges faced these days by the tobacco control community. First, to review the situation briefly. The IDRC " works in close collaboration with researchers from the developing world in their search for the means to build healthier, more equitable, and more prosperous societies. " 3 This mandate comfortably accommodates the IDRC's Research for International Tobacco Control (RITC) program , which provides grants for multidisciplinary research on tobacco control in developing countries. RITC has received funding from the UK Department for International Development, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Health Canada, the Swedish International Development Agency and the Canadian International Development Agency. 4 However, in April, having become aware of McDougall's tobacco industry ties, the Gates Foundation terminated a $5.2 million grant directed to a RITC initiative in Africa: " We are deeply disappointed by this revelation and feel this conflict is unacceptable as we work to support meaningful tobacco control programs in Africa. Therefore, we are terminating our tobacco control grant to IDRC, effective immediately. " 5 As much as they …