California universities maintain tobacco habit

Under a policy adopted last week, scientists at the University of California's ten campuses can continue to accept research grants from tobacco firms. But new grants coming from the industry will undergo added scrutiny.

The University of California's governing board approved the policy on 20 September after several years of intense debate — spurred by a core of outraged scientists (see Nature 446, 242; 2007). Under the new policy, proposed tobacco-firm grants will undergo peer review by panels of scholars at each campus, where the chancellors will oversee the monitoring process. There will also be an annual report on all research funded by the tobacco industry, describing both submitted and approved projects.

Last year, seven of the university's campuses received a total of $16 million for 23 projects, all funded by Philip Morris of Richmond, Virginia.