Why have attitudes to industry funding of research changed?

Abstract

This paper discusses the history of the changing relationship between research and industrial funding, using the tobacco industry as its example. It seeks to explain why funding which was once acceptable is now unacceptable. The hypotheses advanced include: the changing nature of the industry's interest in research and the role of marketing; the rise of the 'new public health' alliance focused on abstention rather than on harm minimization; the role of government funding and control of research; and the changing meaning of tobacco and especially nicotine.