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The reputation of Prof Sir Richard Doll, has come into question. Sir Richard, who was one of the first scientists to definitively link smoking to lung cancer, conducted much of his research while in the pay of chemical companies.

The American Journal of Industrial Medicine says that Swedish researchers have found that Sir Richard, who also co-wrote a famous paper minimising the role of chemicals in causing cancer, failed to disclose that he was being paid at the time by the chemical company Monsanto.

From 1970 to 1990, Sir Richard, who died last year, was paid up to £1,000 a day as a consultant by chemical giant Monsanto. He was also paid £15,000 by the Chemical Manufacturers' Association, Dow Chemicals and ICI to review vinyl chloride, used in plastics. He took a position against the workers, largely clearing the chemical industry of any link with cancers apart from liver cancer. These findings were later challenged.

Dr Samuel Epstein, professor emeritus of environmental and occupational medicine at the University of Illinois School of Public Health and chairman of the US Cancer Prevention Coalition, said Sir Richard was a scientist who "went awry".

He said that in the 1950s and 1960s Sir Richard's work linked cancer with an immense number of substances including nickel, asbestos, gas production, tars, and radioactivity.

"However, over subsequent decades, Doll drastically changed his views and gradually emerged as a major defender of corporate industry interests," he says. Sir Richard "trivialised or dismissed industrial causes of cancer which he predominantly attributed to faulty lifestyle, particularly smoking".

Sir Richard has also been attacked for his decades-long relationship with the asbestos company Turner & Newall.
He also refused to testify for dying plaintiffs or their families in civil litigation against the asbestos industry.

If you or a loved one has been exposed to vinyl chloride or have been diagnosed with liver cancer or brain cancer, contact Bagolie Friedman Lawyers now for a confidential and free consultation now. Call toll free 1-866-333-3529.

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