Research exposes scientists in the pay of industrial giants

Scientists, consultants and academics in the pay of industry are distorting research on hazards and risks, according to an explosive new paper.

"Secret ties to industry and conflicting interests in cancer research", published in the USA, found examples of abuses in that country as well as the UK and Sweden.

Researchers questioned the objectivity of Sir Richard Doll, whose estimate of work-related cancers in 1981 is still used by the Health and Safety Executive. Doll had long-term relationships with a number of companies and trade associations.

In the case of Doll's 1988 paper on cancer risks from vinyl chloride, which was heavily cited by industry groups, he did not disclose receiving £15,000 plus expenses from the Chemical Manufacturers' Association and the vinyl chloride manufacturers ICI and Dow.

Doll was also receiving payments at that time from Monsanto, another large producer of vinyl chloride. The researchers found a letter from a Monsanto epidemiologist renewing Doll's contract of £1,000 per day from the company, with whom Doll had a financial relationship between 1970 and 1990.

The paper also confirms that Swedish professor Ragnar Rylander worked for decades as a consultant to tobacco giant Philip Morris, failing to disclose this tie to his academic employers while at the same time discussing "all his tobacco-related research at the universities with Philip Morris and their lawyers".

While Rylander initially denied the consultancy when it was first revealed in 2002, his contract has since been made public in the Philip Morris Archives.

The paper, by L Hardell and others, is published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 3 November 2006.