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Action on Smoking and Health
A National Legal-Action Antismoking Organization Entirely Supported by Tax-Deductible Contributions
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South Africa: University Accepts Donation from Big Tobacco [09/12-2]
Excerpts from: Activists puffing over UCT tobacco bursaries
By Ben Maclennan IOL.CO.ZA [09/12/03]
Anti-tobacco activists and academics are fuming over the University of Cape Town's acceptance of a R120 000 donation from British American Tobacco.
Activists say the money is tainted by the deaths of millions of people from the products of BAT, South Africa's largest cigarette manufacturer.
One dismayed senior member of the health faculty has sent a personal letter
of protest to Vice Chancellor Njabulo Ndebele, and it is understood that the
university's management is to discuss the issue.
"None are in the field of health sciences, nor has the question arisen," she said. "We take note, however, of the concerns raised by those who have moral objections to tobacco-related donations
A leading cancer researcher, Professor David Thurston, and more than a dozen members of his team, also quit the university over the issue.The money, which Nottingham decided to keep despite the protests, funded a centre for the study of corporate social responsibility.
In his resignation letter, Smith said accepting the money "is a serious mistake and has damaged the university".
He said the tobacco industry had killed 100 million people in the 20th century, and was on track to kill one billion this century.
"It has consistently and systematically behaved unethically, using mendacious
methods to promote its deadly trade." - Sapa
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