Tobacco donation provokes offer to resign

The editor of the British Medical Journal has offered to quit his second job as a university professor if Internet voters tell him to do so.

He is prepared to leave his post as professor of medical journalism because the University of Nottingham accepted £3.8 million sterling from British American Tobacco.

The university "is besmirched" by accepting the money, according to Dr Richard Smith, who has asked people logging on to the BMJ website to vote on the issue. They are asked whether the university should give back the money, and whether Dr Smith should resign if it doesn't.

He will hand in his notice next week if the vote so dictates, he told The Irish Times. "The only reason I wouldn't is if I think the vote was manipulated," he said.

The university plans to use the cash to fund an international centre for the study of corporate social responsibility, which Dr Smith said caused most people to laugh.

Nottingham attempts to justify the decision because guidelines set by the Cancer Research Campaign allow universities to accept tobacco industry support if it is used in areas separate from medical studies. In this case it will support the business school.

Dr Smith said he has taken a stand because of the misery caused by tobacco addiction around the world.

The vice-chancellor of the university, Sir Colin Campbell, argues that corporate funding is a vital part of university finance. The industry employs more than 100 million worldwide, he added, and without the £8 billion in tobacco tax raised each year by the UK government, "it is doubtful that the current quality of social services could be maintained".

A result of the web vote should be available by the end of the week.

Those wishing to vote on the issue can do so at the BMJ web site: http://www.bmj.com