Philip Morris gave grants to scientists at Boston University, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Massachusetts. The company also revealed that it has funded around 470 research projects worldwide, resulting in more than 1,000 publications in journals.
The company claimed that the grants given by the Philip Morris External Research Program were not used to develop new tobacco products or refine existing brands but were used to fund smoking-related projects like cancer, heart disease, and respiratory ailments. But healthcare and consumer organizations believe that the company has compromised the research.
Jerome Kassirer, a former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, said: “If the motivation (of tobacco firms) is to try to show that their products are not as evil as they actually are, then I think researchers should not be doing that sort of thing. If the money is completely unrestricted, then it may be OK. But I know enough about pharmaceutical industries that they’re not going to fund things if they don’t see benefit in it for them. The same must be true for the tobacco industry.”