Digging A Little Deeper Into Bloomberg s Ban

By ACSH Staff — Jul 08, 2010
Yesterday we commented on Mayor Michael Bloomberg s endorsement of a plan to ban smoking in parks and beaches based in part on a New York City-funded study in 2009 claiming that 57 percent of non-smoking New York City adults, compared to 45 percent nationally, tested positive for the presence of cotinine, a marker for nicotine exposure. With due diligence, ACSH s Jeff Stier found the original publication of the cited study which states:

Yesterday we commented on Mayor Michael Bloomberg s endorsement of a plan to ban smoking in parks and beaches based in part on a New York City-funded study in 2009 claiming that 57 percent of non-smoking New York City adults, compared to 45 percent nationally, tested positive for the presence of cotinine, a marker for nicotine exposure.

With due diligence, ACSH s Jeff Stier found the original publication of the cited study which states:

The NYC Health and Nutrition Examination Survey was funded primarily by the New York City Health Department, with assistance from the New York State Department of Health and the CDC. The researchers reported no conflicts of interest.

However, Stier contests, this is a prima facie conflict of interest. He adds, The study was funded by the NYC Health Department and was used to buttress NYC Health Department policy, which is by nature a conflict of interest. Our criticism here is not whether the study is credible that is dependent on science, not funding but we ask, rather, whether it s appropriate for a study intended to provide evidence against smoking to be deemed free of any conflict of interest, yet it s used by the same organization to implement anti-smoking policies? This is not what transparent means.

Category
ACSH relies on donors like you. If you enjoy our work, please contribute.

Make your tax-deductible gift today!

 

 

Popular articles