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:
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.
