The New York Times reported today that a jolting lung cancer study published in the New England Journal of Medicine back in 2006 was financed in part by a small charity called the Foundation for Lung Cancer: Early Detection, Prevention & Treatment. The kicker: a review of tax records of this charity by the Times showed that the foundation was underwritten almost entirely by $3.6 million in grants from the parent company of the Liggett Group, maker of Liggett Select, Eve, Grand Prix, Quest, and Pyramid cigarette brands.
The study, conducted by Dr. Claudia Henschke of Weill Cornell Medical College, originally rocked the cancer world with its conclusion that 80 percent of lung cancer deaths could be prevented through widespread use of CT scans. Sound suspicious?
Let us know what you think. Do you think corporate financing can create an unconscious bias on research? Should doctors and medical institutions be required to disclose the source of their funding?
