University Special Projects

Some research projects were funded directly by the tobacco companies, rather than through CTR or the law firms. Some of these projects were funded individually by Brown and Williamson and some by pooled contributions from companies. Projects funded directly by tobacco companies apparently included relatively unrestricted grants to universities {2003.01}. The motivation for funding these projects is not revealed in the documents.

In contrast to projects funded through CTR or the law firms, these university projects did not focus exclusively on research related to tobacco use. There was debate among the tobacco companies concerning whether or not projects that were not directly related to tobacco should be funded. For example, some of the companies declined to join in support of a diabetes research project at Washington University ($8,100,000 from April

1, 1971, through March 31, 1991 {2003.01}) or research at UCLA on genetic markers, host defenses of the lung, and immune action in the body ($2,750,000 from June 1, 1974, through May 31, 1982 {2003.01}).

As with CTR and law firm special projects, lawyers and high-level tobacco industry executives were intimately involved in funding decisions for university projects. For example, in 1980 William Shinn of Shook, Hardy, and Bacon organized a site visit to review Washington University's request for continued support {2019.01}. The site visit committee consisted of the executive officers of Brown and Williamson, Liggett & Myers, Philip Morris, R. J. Reynolds, Tobacco Associates, the Tobacco Institute, and US Tobacco {2019.09}. There is no indication that the lawyers and executives were accompanied by scientists or that the funding was subject to the scientific peer review process.