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The next time you read a scientific study, you may want to check who funded the research. It's an open secret that many multinational corporations are discovering the dark art of trade-funded research, particularly research in the areas of health and nutrition, which has disturbing implications transparency.
A new study, published in the Journal of Public Health Policy, has shed light on Coca-Cola and the devices used to control the scientific research it's funding in public universities in North America. A team of policy and public health experts led by the University of Cambridge in the UK explains in detail how Coca-Cola funds many health research conducted in US and Canadian public universities, while maintaining a clause in the contract that allows them for no reason "and leave with all rights on the data.
In theory, this gives them the power to bury any research that does not serve their cause.
"These contracts suggest that Coke wanted to be able to bury funded research that could harm its image or its profits," study author Gary Ruskin, co-director of US Right to Know, a consumer advocacy group seeking to ensure the transparency of the American food system, says in a declaration.
"With the power to denounce positive findings and bury negative conclusions, science funded by Coca-Cola is more like a public relations exercise."
Although the study has found no examples of the use of the cancellation clause, the researchers argue that their findings contradict Coca-Cola's commitment in favor of the US. a transparent science – a problem that society has known. come under fire for over and over again.
This discovery was made after browsing 87,013 pages of documents obtained as part of requests for access to information, which concluded five research agreements concluded with four universities: Louisiana State University , the University of South Carolina, the University of Toronto and the University of Washington.
The contracts show that Coca-Cola does not interfere in the daily lives of scientists, but retains various rights throughout the process. For example, it has the power to require updates and comment on the results before the publication of the research. The company also dictated the wording of the financing statement in several of the agreements. More importantly, it even has the power to prevent the publication of research.
"Coca-Cola has declared itself to be at the forefront of transparency in funding health research by giants of food and beverages. In fact, our study suggests that important research may never see the light of day, and that we will never know it, "said Dr. Sarah Steele, senior author, policy researcher at Cambridge's Department of Politics and International Studies.
"We already hear nutrition experts say that the food industry is copying the tactics of the big tobacco book. Corporate social responsibility must be more than mere websites spelling out progressive policies ignored. "
In light of their research, the authors of the study invite funding companies to publish lists of completed studies. They also ask journals to do more than disclosures and statements of conflicts of interest that require the authors of the study to attach donor agreements.
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