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. 2010 Jun;105(6):974-83.
doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2010.02940.x.

'To prove this is the industry's best hope': big tobacco's support of research on the genetics of nicotine addiction

Kenneth R Gundle  1 , Molly J Dingel, Barbara A Koenig
Affiliations

'To prove this is the industry's best hope': big tobacco's support of research on the genetics of nicotine addiction

Kenneth R Gundle et al. Addiction. 2010 Jun.

Abstract

Background: New molecular techniques focus a genetic lens upon nicotine addiction. Given the medical and economic costs associated with smoking, innovative approaches to smoking cessation and prevention must be pursued; but can sound research be manipulated by the tobacco industry?

Methodology: The chronological narrative of this paper was created using iterative reviews of primary sources (the Legacy Tobacco Documents), supplemented with secondary literature to provide a broader context. The empirical data inform an ethics and policy analysis of tobacco industry-funded research.

Findings: The search for a genetic basis for smoking is consistent with industry's decades-long plan to deflect responsibility away from the tobacco companies and onto individuals' genetic constitutions. Internal documents reveal long-standing support for genetic research as a strategy to relieve the tobacco industry of its legal responsibility for tobacco-related disease.

Conclusions: Industry may turn the findings of genetics to its own ends, changing strategy from creating a 'safe' cigarette to defining a 'safe' smoker.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest Statement: Gundle and Dingel: None. Dr. Koenig previously served without financial compensation on the Affymetrix Corporation ethics advisory board. Dr. Koenig is a co-principal investigator on a study titled, “A Proof-of-Principle Trial of Communication to Patients Receiving Predictive Genomic Risk Assessment” that is jointly funded by Navigenics, Inc. and Mayo Clinic. She receives no personal compensation from Navigenics.

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