Editor resigns after Internet poll

BAT's donation is funding a centre for corporate social responsibility

LONDON, England -- The editor of a respected medical journal has resigned from a university teaching post after an online vote among his readers.

Richard Smith, editor of the British Medical Journal (BMJ), called the online poll to decide if he should resign from Nottingham University on moral grounds after the institute accepted £3.8 million ($5.4 million) in funding from British American Tobacco (BAT).

Of the 1,075 people worldwide who responded to the question, 54 percent said he should resign his professorship of medical journalism in protest at the donation, which he duly did.

"I am resigning both because I said I would do what the BMJ's readers said I should do," commented Smith, "And because I've argued so strongly that the university shouldn't have taken the money."

BAT, which manufactures such well-known cigarette brands as Lucky Strike and Dunhill, had donated the money to fund an international centre on corporate social responsibility.

The donation aroused controversy, however, because of the proven harmful medical effects of smoking, with many arguing that the money was "tainted."

"Clearly this is not a 'clean' source of funding for the university," said BMJ-reader Dr. Mary Black, who voted for Smith to resign.

Britain's Cancer Research Campaign (CRC) applauded Smith's decision.

"Accepting tainted tobacco cash has backfired on the university," said the CRC's director-general Professor Gordon McVie. "They are facing a huge exodus of good staff and sponsorship."

Philip Dalling, a spokesman for Nottingham University, told the Reuters news agency that the university was sorry to lose Smith, but would not be returning the money.

"We believe the decision to accept the money was justified," he said. "We have had messages of support as well as criticism."

Reuters contributed to this report.