ILSI, Tobacco, and the World Health Organization - International Life ...

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It is important to reemphasize that ILSI focuses solely on scientific issues related to nutrition, foodsafety, toxicology, and risk assessment to improve public health, which is of interest to food, beverage,and pharmaceutical companies as well as government scientists and academicians. ILSI conducts noprograms whatsoever on tobacco, and no tobacco company divisions are members of ILSI. A list of allthe companies worldwide that are currently members of ILSI is available on the ILSI website.Chronology (Lines 61-156)On lines 64-66, the Case Study alleges that the tobacco industry was involved with ILSI since 1983,citing R.J. Reynolds membership in ILSI. The reference citation for this document 1 does not indicatethat R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company was a member of ILSI, because it was not; rather, Nabisco, thefood subsidiary, of R.J. Reynolds was a member of ILSI. A close inspection of the part of thedocument that mentions ILSI reveals references to “food research” and other organizations primarilyfocused on food-related issues.The next reference 2 (lines 68-69) addresses attendance by Philip Morris representatives at a EuropeanToxicology Forum in October 1993. The Toxicology Forum is not an ILSI entity. It is anindependent, not-for-profit scientific organization that holds open scientific workshops, conferencesand meetings in Europe and the United States. This statement is not even relevant to a Case Studyabout ILSI.The next reference 3 (lines 69-71) in the Case Study supposedly is a “1984 R.J. Reynolds report onresource management” that suggests maintaining a liaison with ILSI. However, a critical evaluation ofthis document as downloaded from the RJR website shows it not to be a tobacco company document atall, but rather a copy of a portion of a research grant proposal on saccharin that was submitted to ILSIfor funding by Dr. Samuel Cohen, a renowned researcher and expert on saccharin from the Universityof Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC). The document’s references to liaison with the ILSI projectofficer indicate that Dr. Cohen and the UNMC staff conducting the study would maintain contact withILSI and provide ILSI with progress reports, as one would expect when any organization,governmental or non-governmental, supports research at an academic institution. The proposal hasnothing whatsoever to do with tobacco or any relationship between ILSI and any tobacco companies.4
It presumably appeared among the tobacco company documents because of Nabisco’s membership inILSI.On lines 73-76, the Case Study goes on to discuss the activities of a “Dr. Francis Roe of PhilipMorris.” Dr. Roe was, in fact, an independent consultant, who was working privately for PhilipMorris. His report on the International Congress of Nutrition 4 reveals no connection between ILSI andPhilip Morris or tobacco; rather, as one would expect, the report addresses food issues. It seems theonly reason for citing the document is that Dr. Malaspina, then president of ILSI, spoke at that meetingabout “the activities and achievements of ILSI” under the presentation title, “Regulatory Constraints onFood—Safety and Nutrition.” There is nothing in this document to indicate ILSI was conducting anyactivities related to tobacco, and indeed, that is because ILSI was not.The next reference (lines 76-81) is to a letter from Dr. Roe to Dr. Ulrich Mohr of the HannoverMedical School regarding an International Inhalation Toxicology Symposium. 5 The Case Study leavesseveral false impressions about this seven-symposium series.o First, this was not an exclusively ILSI-supported activity. The first four symposiawere cosponsored by the Fraunhofer Institute of Toxicology and Aerosol Research,the Hannover Medical School, and ILSI. The last three symposia were alsocosponsored by the National Health and Environmental Effects ResearchLaboratory of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.o Second, while Dr. Mohr did serve as a volunteer academic trustee to ILSI for anumber of years, he did not represent ILSI, but rather one of the symposiumcosponsors, Hannover Medical School, where he served as a professor. Dr. Mohr’scontacts with Dr. Roe (and anyone else) should not be attributed to ILSI, since ILSIdid not know of, request, or sanction such contacts. (It should be noted that as anILSI trustee, Dr. Mohr provided guidance to the ILSI Pathology and ToxicologyInstitute (PTI) and was permitted to establish an independent ILSI bank account inGermany to facilitate activities supported by the PTI in Germany, including the5
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ILSI, Tobacco, and the World Health Organization - International Life ...

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