Sir

In News in Brief (“Research centre refuses tobacco-company funding” Nature 438, 270; 200510.1038/438270a), you report that the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ) has adopted “an ethical code that bans all kinds of funding from tobacco companies”. To me this sounds sanctimonious, because — as a member of the country's largest research institution, the Helmholtz Association — the DKFZ is funded almost entirely through taxes.

In 2003, the German federal government received €14.1 billion (US$16.6 billion) in revenue from tobacco taxes, which amounts to 3.4% of the country's total tax income. As Dr Pötschke-Langer of the DKFZ hopes to “set an example for other German health institutes”, I wonder if the DKFZ aims to convince the Helmholtz Association to do without the €74.8 million that represents 3.4% of its annual €2.2-billion funding, or even to renounce 3.4% of its own budget?