Philip Morris withdraws claim to see Stirling University research

Only the Independent has run with this story so far – written by Steve Connor, whose story that Philip Morris was demanding sensitive research information from Stirling University caused a furore in September.

They haven't announced that they are dropping their demand to see the information; but they have missed a deadline specified by the Scottish Information Commissioner, meaning that the only way to proceed with getting the information is to start all over again.

I'm not sure why they dropped it: it doesn't help that we have only one version of the story. According to Steve Connor the university declined to accept reimbursement from Philip Morris for costs incurred. I can't see how the Scottish Information Commissioner would accept such a refusal from the university, but I don't know all the rules (maybe there are laws against money changing hands in these circumstances, in the interests of equality).

Perhaps, having decided to sue the Australian government, they have bigger fish to fry.

Canadian radio broadcast starring Gerard Hastings and the Information Commissioner

Via Bishop Hill comes this link to an interview with Gerard Hastings from Stirling University, defending his case against Philip Morris, and Scottish Information Commissioner, Kevin Dunion.

Edit: A permanent link to the interview is available here:

Professor Hastings makes the point that the studies in question are paid for, not publicly, but by 'a cancer charity', a somewhat cunning disguise for Cancer Research UK. One only needs to read CRUK's research preferences to understand that Philip Morris has clear grounds to assume that Cancer Research is prejudiced against its corporate interests. Professor Hastings may correct in thinking that charity-funded research should not have to comply with Freedom of Information requests – but charities that fund research should not announce their intentions to influence government policy prejudicially against the interests of specific industries. If Government chooses to outsource research to the third sector or universities it shouldn't expect to escape accountability.

After listening to Professor Hastings, listening to the Information Commissioner brings one down to earth. He is clear that the University has not understood the implications of FOI, because of Hastings' insistence that assuring his subjects of confidentiality would automatically exempt him from complying with the requirements of the law. He reiterated that he had ordered the University to provide a substantive response to the FOI request – not necessarily to provide the information requested, but otherwise to give adequate reasons for not supplying it.

Any result will be subject to appeal and could take several months.

Stirling University 0, Philip Morris 1

Today the Independent newspaper reveals that Philip Morris has made a FOI request of Stirling University's Institute of Social Marketing involving data for research on the smoking habits of young people. 

In fact it is old news: the request has already been approved by the Scottish Information Commissioner in a decision dated June 2011 that criticised the University's conduct in the affair.

The tone of the Independent on this whole issue is almost hysterical. No less than three articles by science editor Steve Connor appear in today's edition:

Exclusive: Smoked out: tobacco giant's war on science

(a loaded way to describe a Freedom of Information request); 

Echoes of climate change battles are no accident

(in which tobacco and climate change are treated as identical issues); and

Hair-splitting, brazen denials and six decades of dirty tricks.

Good that you can rely on the press to be even-handed, especially when it calls itself the Independent? I have no objection to dirty tricks being reported, but the report implies that because tobacco companies have been caught in the past being less than economical with the truth their opponents in tobacco control studies have always been and will always be beyond reproach. 

As well as these three pieces we have another by Jean King at Cancer Research (which contributed to funding for the study at issue) : 'This industry should be kept away from young people.' Tobacco is just one thing that many people agree is not a product for young people's consumption. Is this a reason for a major newspaper not to ensure that both sides are properly interviewed in a report about a dispute?

The leader ('The uses and abuses of freedom') is at least slightly measured, and concludes:

Scientific research, which has a value in its own right, but potentially also a commercial and social value, could be seen as the university's exclusive property. If the university and the research, however, have taxpayer funding, should the findings not be more widely available? In the end, the Information Commissioner might have to weigh the arguments – and that might be no bad thing.

This brings us back to the fact that the decision appears to have been made already. I would have expected the writer of a leader to know this: have there been further developments since then? The University was given until 15 August to comply, and it isn't clear what has happened since then. 


Significantly, the studies are funded by the public, and their findings are expected to (at the very least) inform public policy. Gerard Hastings' pleas that the children interviewed during these studies did not expect their data to fall into the hands of tobacco companies suggest that he hasn't fully appreciated what public funding implies. As somebody comments under the article, he should not have given assurances to subjects that would run counter to his obligations under FOI.


Significantly BMJ editor Richard Smith has also agreed that Philip Morris should see the data collected at Stirling. I agree that Philip Morris should have access too, not least because the Institute of Social Marketing and Cancer Research UK are behind the studies. Their agenda is specifically anti-tobacco, and it is hard to imagine that their research can be other than policy-led. This gives Philip Morris a legitimate interest.


Edit: The Scotsman quotes the office of the Scottish Information Commissioner: 

In a statement, the office of Scotland's Information Commissioner, Kevin Dunion, said: "The commissioner has not ordered the university to release the information. He has found that the request was not vexatious, and ordered the university to make a substantive response to Philip Morris International. 

"A substantive response could include release of the information in part or whole, or a refusal to release information with an explanation of why, under the provisions of the FOI Act, the university believes this to be the correct course of action.