Sound Bites

By Ajay Singh

The UC Board of Regents is currently considering whether or not UC should continue to accept tobacco industry support for research, as some UCLA researchers have. Voices Editor Ajay Singh recently asked people on campus what they thought about the controversy.

Michael Ong

Assistant professor in residence at the David Geffen School of Medicine

A lot of accumulated evidence points to the tobacco industry's systematic distortion of science, and given their behavior, it doesn't make sense to take funds from them. there is an old saying: ‘Once burnt, twice shy.’ And in this case the scientific community has been burned more than once. People will say, ‘You should let researchers decide for themselves.’ What’s troubling is that not all researchers will be able to make that decision, particularly new researchers who may be led down a wrong path.

Mohib Qidwai

Fifth-year political science major

It’s OK to have tobacco-sponsored research — but with the approval of students. That would give UC an idea of the opinion of those who provide a substantial chunk of UC’s funds and make up most of its population.

Kym Faull

Professor in residence, psychiatry and bio behavioral sciences

As long as the money comes without any strings attached and is used to investigate those aspects of cigarette smoking and smoke that researches think are important, the university should accept it. Nicotine addiction and lung cancers are problems associated with tobacco — we all know that. philip Morris is not going to find anything they like in the research and the quote it selectively.

Eleonora Vince

First-year graduate student in public health

I guess I need more information to decide. But I’d have a hard time believing the tobacco industry would fund research unless there was some benefit to them.